Shifting Hearts
by Vampirerex1
Summary: It's said that the West was built on legends; tall tales that help us make sense of things too great or too terrifying to believe. This is the story of a Feline Shape Shifter and how she makes herself a life in the midst of four Autonomous Robotic Organisms from another planet. Full summ inside. RatchetXOCxOptimusXIronhideXJazz. Rating now M
1. Chapter 1

**Author: **Vampirerex1  
**Beta: Goldstreak  
****Category: **Movies - Transformers  
**Disclaimer: **I don't own Transformers; I'll leave that part to Hasbro. I do however own Alexx and this plot. I also don't own the set up of the introduction; that belongs to Ghost Rider.**  
Genre(s): **Romance/Fantasy**  
Pairing(s): **Ironhide/OC, Optimus/OC, Jazz/OC, and Ratchet/OC**  
Rating: **T**  
Summary: **It's said that the West was built on legends; tall tales that help us make sense of things too great or too terrifying to believe. This is the story of a Feline Shape Shifter and how she makes herself a life in the midst of four Autonomous Robotic Organisms from another planet, how she deals with splitting her heart four ways, how she lives with being hunted and how she copes with being the stuff of legend  
**Title: **Shifting Hearts**  
Warning(s): **Sexual Situations and bad language in later chapters.

**_Legend_**

_"Introduction"_

Story

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

**(Scene/POV change)**

**Dreams**

**_Flashbacks_**

**_:Comm. Link:_**

**_::Bond Link::_**

_-Cybertronian-_

**Chapter 1.**

_"It's said that the West was built on legends; tall tales that help us make sense of things too great or too terrifying to believe. This is the legend of the Shape Shifter. Story goes that a Shape Shifting goddess formed a forbidden bond with a mortal human, mating with him several times. When the other gods and goddesses found out about this forbidden bond, they executed the human male and locked the goddess up. Soon after, the Shape Shifting goddess bore three children, two girls and one boy, this angered the other gods and goddesses and they planned to execute the children as penance for the Shape Shifting Goddess' sins. _

_It's said that when the goddess heard about this, she bestowed upon her three children her powers, giving them the ability to shift their form at will. To her first daughter, she bestowed the ability to shift into any airborne animal, to her second daughter, the ability to shift into any waterborne animal and to her only son, she bestowed the ability to shift into any land based animal. It's said that she then sent them to Earth._

_When the other gods and goddesses came to kill the children, it's said that in a last act of defiance, the Shape Shifting goddess used the last of her power to bestow upon several random humans, the abilities she bestowed upon her children, before committing suicide. It may be a legend, but…the thing about legends…is…sometimes they're true._

_But this isn't a story about a man who has the power of hellfire bestowed upon him and cursed to ride the Earth doing the devil's bidding, this is the story of a Feline Shape Shifter and how she makes herself a life in the midst of four Autonomous Robotic Organisms from another planet, how she deals with splitting her heart four ways, how she lives with being hunted and how she copes with being the stuff of legend"_

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

Thunder echoed in the distance; a single drop of rain landed on the ground, eagerly soaked up by the parched Earth. This drop was followed by another, and another until it was raining heavily. A young couple ran through the trees, the sounds of barking, whistling and yelling emanating from not far behind them. A flash of lightning illuminated their terrified forms as the woman pointed forwards, towards a lone house in the middle of nowhere. The man nodded and they both took off towards the house, the man holding the woman up as she stumbled. Upon arriving at the house, the young woman unstrapped something from her back and placed it upon the sheltered porch, giving it a kiss, before placing a large envelope on the porch. The young woman knocked on the door; before glancing down at the thing on the porch one last time and running off with the man, the yells, whistles and barks following after them.

The door to the lone house opened and there stood a woman with blonde hair; she looked around outside for a few seconds before a rustle and a gurgling noise made her lower her gaze. Instantly, her hand went to her mouth and she crouched down, picking the bundle up in her arms, the envelope along with it, she looked around again before going inside her house, closing the door as she did. Settling herself at the kitchen table, the blonde haired woman held the bundle in one arm, opening it up with her other hand and looking at the little pink baby inside, a small smile adorning her lips as she did. Looking over at the large brown envelope sat on the table and reached for it, somehow managing to open it with the one hand and tip the contents out. Inside was a booklet and a letter, she picked the letter up first.

_Dear Sir/Madam_

_By the time you read this letter, my husband and I will already have been caught, or worse, dead. You have in your possession a most treasured being; our only child Alexx, we would have loved to have raised her ourselves, but due to foreseen circumstances, we are no longer able to do that and our daughter is now in your care. Please take good care of her. Within the envelope this letter was in, is a handbook titled how to care for a Shifter and this will help you take care of our little girl to the best of your ability._

_I expect you are asking yourself what a shifter is and why you were chosen to take care of such valuable cargo. The truth is; it is possible that we ran into your house by coincidence and deemed you and your family trustworthy enough to leave our daughter with. Now, a shifter is a being with the supernatural ability to shift their shape into an animal at will. All is explained in the handbook. We beg that you don't go to the authorities with the gift you have been given, as they will undoubtedly take her away from you and she may end up in a family who do not like shifters, there are people out there who will try to harm her._

_Please take care of our daughter; she will need all the care she can get to survive. We wish you all the luck in the world as now your lives will become complicated._

The young blonde woman looked away from the letter and looked at the baby as she made a little noise, gently rocking her to soothe her again. She then put the letter down and released a big sigh, putting her elbow on the table and pressing her fingers and thumb to her forehead.

"How am I to explain this to Will?" She asked.

She looked down to the baby, whose beautiful baby blue eyes were staring up at her. Another sigh escaped her and she shook her head, before getting up and walking over to the counter tops and opening a drawer, pulling it out and emptying it, before placing it on the table and placing the baby into it. She then sat down and picked up the handbook, turning it over and looking at the cover, seeing that it was hand written beautifully.

"Must've taken your parents a long time to do this perfectly" she muttered.

The baby just gurgled and kicked out, sticking her hand in her mouth. The blonde haired woman looked at the little baby and gave a small smile, before opening the handbook.

"Let's see how to take care of you then shall we?" She questioned.

She opened the handbook to the first page and began to read. Her eyebrows shooting up as she continued to read. Her gaze flicked from the baby in the drawer, to the handbook, before she put the handbook down and puffed out a breath of air.

"You'll be a teenager in Eighteen months? God you grow fast" she said.

She shook her head again and picked the handbook up again, continuing to read. It took her about an hour to read the entire handbook from cover to cover and even then, she didn't really get most of what it had told her. However, she got up and picked the baby and the drawer up and headed upstairs, going into her bedroom and putting the drawer on the floor next to her bed and got under the sheets, laying her head on the pillow and closing her eyes. Tomorrow her husband would be back from his tour and she knew she'd have a hard time explaining the fact that they had a baby who would be almost fully grown child in Eighteen months.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**(The next day)**

The blonde haired woman got out of bed and took the baby into the bathroom with her, while she did what she had to do and had a shower. Once done, she took the drawer and baby back into the bedroom and got herself dressed, before looking down at the baby and clicking her tongue. She reached onto the bedside table and picked up the phone there, dialling a number and waiting for the other person to answer.

"Hey Cherri, it's Sarah; listen, I need a favour" she began.

Sarah began to list off items that she needed, but didn't explain why she needed them, instead telling her friend that she would explain everything when Cherri dropped the items off. She said goodbye and thank you to Cherri and put the phone down and then picked the baby up again, rocking her a little. As far as she was aware, as it didn't say anything in the handbook, normal baby milk should be alright for Alexx, well…she hoped that Alexx would be alright with baby milk.

About an hour later Cherri arrived at Sarah's house and knocked on the door with the items that the blonde woman had asked for. The blonde woman smiled at the brown haired woman and took the bag with the items, before inviting the brown haired woman in. Cherri and Sarah walked into the kitchen and Cherri was instantly shocked when she saw the baby in the drawer on the table.

"What the…why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" Cherri asked.

Sarah looked at her and smiled a little.

"I wasn't. I found her on the doorstep last night" she replied.

Cherri looked at Sarah and then walked over to the little baby, looking down at the perfect little round face and gasping.

"Oh, who would want to abandon this little cutie-pie?" She questioned.

Sarah poured the water on the tea bags in both cups on the counter, before turning to Cherri.

"She wasn't abandoned" she said.

She picked up the letter and handed it to Cherri, who took it and began to read it, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Shifter, but I thought Shape Shifters were just stuff of legend" she stated.

Sarah shrugged and handed Cherri a cup before putting the milk away and picking up her own cup.

"Apparently they're not, but the letter says that people would be hunting her, trying to hurt her" she said.

Cherri looked at Sarah and then looked at the baby, before taking a sip of her tea. Her gaze then snapped to Sarah again.

"Isn't Will home today?" She questioned.

Sarah nodded and gave a bit of a sigh.

"Yeah, but I don't know how I'm going to explain this to him" she replied.

Cherri smiled and put her tea on the table, walking up to the drawer and pulling the baby out of it and beginning to rock her.

"I'm sure he'll be fine Sarah, he wanted kids right?" She asked.

Sarah nodded but then put her tea on the counter.

"Yeah, but I'm sure he meant that he wanted kids of our own, not some other person's kid" she answered.

Cherri sent a glance Sarah's way.

"Well, if he's not happy about having this little sweetheart, then he's not the right man for you Sarah. I'm sure he'll love her" she said.

Sarah sighed and nodded.

"I hope you're right Cherri, I really do hope" she stated.

Cherri smiled and put the baby back into the drawer, before picking up her tea and beginning to drink it.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**(Later that day)**

An army vehicle pulled up outside the house, causing Sarah to hurry to the window, a huge grin appearing on her face before she ran to the door, opened it and ran out, throwing herself at her husband as he walked up the path. Will dropped his bags and lifted his wife up, pulling her into a huge hug and kissing her. Pulling away, Sarah looked up into her husband's blue eyes and gave a small smile.

"I have a surprise for you, and I really hope you'll like it" she said.

Will raised an eyebrow and bent down to retrieve his bags.

"What kind of surprise?" He asked.

Sarah smiled and began to walk towards the house, prompting Will to follow her. Once inside, he dropped his bags by the door and as soon as he turned around, he had a pink bundle placed in his arms. He looked down at the bundle and then looked up at his wife.

"You didn't tell me that you were…" he began.

Sarah shook her head.

"I wasn't…I found her on the porch last night" she said.

Will furrowed his brow and looked down at the baby in his arms, before looking back to his wife, seeing the face she was making before shaking his head.

"Oh no, no way Sarah. We can't keep her" he said.

Sarah furrowed her brow.

"Why not Will? She's got no-one else" she stated.

Will raised an eyebrow.

"And you know this for a fact do you?" He asked.

Sarah nodded and walked into the kitchen, coming back out with the letter.

"This was in an envelope that was left with her" she said.

Will handed the baby to Sarah and took the letter, sitting on the couch and beginning to read it. As he did, Sarah began to rock Alexx and when Will had finished, he put the letter on the table and rubbed his face.

"Sarah, I'm not going to put you in danger" he said.

Sarah instantly knew what he was going to say and her face became one of pure anger.

"And we are **_not_** leaving this poor defenceless baby to vultures" she said.

Will looked at Sarah and sighed.

"You're already in danger Sarah, because of me being in the army, it makes you a target. But with keeping this baby, well you might as well paint a target on your back" he argued.

Sarah shook her head.

"Will, this baby needs our protection, for at least Eighteen months" she said.

The black haired man looked at Sarah and furrowed his brow.

"Eighteen months?" He asked.

Sarah nodded.

"She's a Shifter, she'll be almost fully grown in Eighteen months" she replied.

Will sighed and shook his head, knowing that he wasn't going to win this argument. He put his hands up and stood up, walking over to Sarah and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Fine, you win. But how're we going to explain a fast growing baby to others?" He asked.

Sarah looked at him and then looked down to Alexx.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out" she said.

Will nodded.

"I guess you're a Lennox now Alexx" he said.

Sarah smiled and lay her head on Will's shoulder.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**_A/N: So this is something that has been floating around my head for a while, inspired by a RP that me and my friend dragonlover91 were doing over Skype. I will be putting the handbook either up on DeviantArt or LiveJournal, so keep a look out for Sophia_Hoshigaki and Rex_Prime94. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story and please don't forget to review, but please, no flames. I know this story is a little out there with the whole shifter thing, but I wanted to do something that no-one else has, which is what I'm kinda good at. Also, yes, Alexx will be in a relationship with Four, yes Four Cybertronians and once the story is established, there will be a load of sex in later chapters._**

**_Thank you for reading and enjoy_**

**_Vampyrex1_**

_Date Written: 04 June 2014_

_Word Count: 2822_

_Upload Date: Saturday 19 July 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 26 July 2014_


	2. Chapter 2

**_For Disclaimer, parnings, rating, parings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._**

**Chapter 2**

_"The legend of the shifter has been known to take many forms, every religion and culture having their own stories that gradually became more and more distorted as they were passed from generation to generation. Shifters were called by many names, depending on what people believed about them. Some people believed they were shamans, people who could interact with the spirit world, and looked to them in times of hardship, few believed that shifters were skin-walkers, people who could change their form into any animal they wished and many believed that shifters were Naguals, creatures that could transform themselves into any animal. But there were also those people who believed that shifters were dangerous and evil, many of these people believed shifters to be sorcerers or witches and as a result, many shifters were burnt at the stake._

_It wasn't until the early 17th century, during the reign of King Charles 1 that shifters were seen as people rather than witches/sorcerers/Naguals/Skin-Walkers. When the King's chief guard Thomas Moore was injured after rogues attempted to rob his highnesses stagecoach, the horses had been so terrified that they had run and Moore's men had followed, leaving him stranded, alone and bleeding out until a shifter called Godin approached him, in his animal form, before shifting into his human form. At first Thomas was terrified of the creature, begging and pleading to have his life spared, for he had done the creature no harm, before he had passed out due to blood loss._

_It was when he had woken up that he had realised that the creature had moved him from the place he fell, to what appeared to be a cottage of some sort, and he was no longer laying on cold, hard stone, but on a soft, warm bed. Moore had inspected his wound, seeing that not only had it been cleaned rather thoroughly, but it had also been stitched in an almost professional manner. When he had been able to walk again, Moore had made his way slowly, back to the castle, welcomed with open arms, he had told his men that he needed to see the King right away and he had been taken to him._

_Thomas had explained that after the convoy had taken off, he had been approached by a shifter, which had caused numerous gasps among the people. He told of how he passed out in the middle of the road and woke up in a cottage with his wound cleaned and sutured expertly and he told the King that he believed the shifter had something to do with it. With that, the very next day, Charles had sent out a party of guards, to find and retrieve this shifter, so that he may thank him for his good will. Godin accepted this on the condition that Shifters were to be treated less like monsters and more like the people they were"_

**(18 months later)**

Excitement filled the air of the Lennox house, after five months of Will being gone, he was finally on his way home. Alexx had grown into a young woman, looking as if she were in her early mid-teens, but really being only a year old and was constantly out and about, climbing trees and sitting on the roof. In the time that Will had been away, Sarah had given birth to a beautiful little girl, whom she had named Annabelle and Alexx had found that she had a way with the local cats, due to her being a feline shifter. It was a wonder the cats weren't scared of her, considering what animal she shifted into.

Up until now, Sarah had been keeping a close eye on Alexx, making sure that she didn't wander off when they went to the city and always protecting her from people who looked strange. The blonde woman had also started reading the handbook again as well as having read the letter again too. She was baffled about how fast Alexx had grown in the last 18 months, but the more she read the handbook, the clearer everything became. Thankfully, she noted, Alexx wouldn't reach sexual maturity until she was about two years old, so that gave her plenty of time to read the part about feline puberty and also research it on the internet too, so she would be ready. What marred her conscience though, was the fact that, as soon as Alexx reached sexual maturity, the feline shifter would most probably leave her, to find herself a mate and settle down.

Sarah decided that she would forget about that for now, and just enjoy the time she had left with her first daughter, while also looking after her second daughter. It was funny to watch how Alexx acted with Annabelle, at first the dark haired female had been terrified of the baby, but true to her feline nature, curiosity soon got the better of her and she started examining Annabelle, with Sarah watching her every move. Sarah had laughed for a long time when Annabelle had made a high pitched squeal, which made Alexx jump a mile and hide behind the couch.

Watching a human behave in such a way would make most people think she was some kind of crazy, but the blonde woman knew the truth. Currently, Sarah was sat in the kitchen, watching Alexx play with Annabelle with a smile on her face. It seemed that in the few months Annabelle had been around, the feline shifter had formed a kind of special bond with her, running to her if she hurt herself, keeping watch over her like a loyal dog. Because of this, Sarah felt safe enough to get some time to herself every so often, whether that be a lounging soak in the bath or mowing the lawn, she knew Annabelle was protected and safe. As she sat, drinking her coffee, Sarah's mind travelled back to when she and Will had told Alexx of her true heritage and of what she really was.

_**~Flashback~**_

_**Sarah and Will were sat downstairs, thinking that Alexx was in bed and asleep, they were both reading the Shifter handbook, trying to learn as much as they could about the feline shifter they were raising.**_

_**"So, she'll be like an eight year old kid by the time she's six months?" Will asked.**_

_**Sarah looked at him and nodded, before looking back down to the handbook.**_

_**"Yeah, and it says that she'll probably look like she's in her mid teens when she's a yearling" she replied.**_

_**Will nodded and continued to read about Alexx, sighing when he read the part about shifters being hunted. That was all they needed, he was in the military and he was harboring a creature that could and would cause their lives to be hell. He looked to his wife and released another sigh.**_

_**"Are you sure about this Sarah? I mean, we're going to get a lot of stick for this" he said.**_

_**The blonde haired woman looked at her husband and then looked down to the handbook again.**_

_**"What am I supposed to do Will? Just chuck her out on the streets to survive on her own? I can't do that, my maternal instinct for one won't let me" she stated.**_

_**Will growled and ran his hands through his hair, leaning back against the couch, before sitting back up again.**_

_**"Does she at least know what she is?" He asked.**_

_**Sarah shook her head.**_

_**"I haven't told her yet" she answered.**_

_**Will groaned.**_

_**"Well don't you think you'd better?" He questioned.**_

_**Before Sarah could answer, there was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and both adults turned to see Alexx appear just under the slanted ceiling, where she sat on the step there.**_

_**"Tell me what?" She asked.**_

_**Will and Sarah looked at each other and then looked at Alexx, before Sarah got up and put her hands together in front of her.**_

_**"Um...why don't you come and sit down" she said.**_

_**Alexx got up and walked the rest of the way down the stairs, before going to sit next to Will, who budged over to make room for her and Sarah. When Alexx had sat down, Sarah sat down too and handed her the handbook.**_

_**"The night I found you, you were left on the porch, I assume by your birth parents. When I found you, I saw that you had a brown envelope resting on your basket and when I took you in, I read it" she said.**_

_**She then handed Alexx the letter from her parents.**_

_**"This was in the brown envelope, along with the handbook" she stated.**_

_**Alexx looked down at the letter and began to read it, her eyes drifting over the words, taking them all in. She could read better than any child her age, because of her abilities, her mind was more developed than a regular child's mind was. When she'd finished, she put the letter down and just sat there.**_

_**"So you're not my real parents" she whispered.**_

_**Sarah put her hand on Alexx's back and rubbed it slightly.**_

_**"No sweetie, but whether we're your blood parents or not, we love you all the same" she said.**_

_**Alexx's head shot up and her eyes narrowed.**_

_**"You might do, but Will doesn't" she said.**_

_**Sarah looked up in time to see Will's eyes go wide, before he leaned forward on his knees.**_

_**"It's not that I don't love you Alexx; it's that...I'm worried" he explained.**_

_**Alexx looked at him and narrowed her eyes.**_

_**"Worried about what?" She asked.**_

_**Will looked at Sarah and then looked at Alexx.**_

_**"About you. If anyone finds out what you are..." he began.**_

_**The shifter female looked between the two humans and raised her eyebrows.**_

_**"What?" She questioned.**_

_**Sarah rubbed Alexx's back again.**_

_**"Alexx, there are some terrible people out there, people who don't like your...uh...breed of...uh...people and they'll try to harm you. As it is, according to what your parents say in the letter, you were supposed to die the night they did" she explained.**_

_**The black haired girl looked at Sarah and her eyes widened, before she looked down and sniffled.**_

_**"I guess that's why I can't go and play with the other kids" she sobbed.**_

_**Sarah's heart broke and she pulled Alexx into a protective hug.**_

_**"Yeah, Alexx...that's why sweetie" she said.**_

_**It didn't take long for Alexx to calm down and when she did, it was with a new understanding of what she was.**_

_**"So...does the handbook say when I'll find out what I'll shift into?" She asked.**_

_**Will picked up the handbook and flipped through it, coming to the page that said 'First shift'. He read it and grimaced a little, before giving a bit of a laugh.**_

_**"It says that the first shift will be like a baby going through the teething stage" he stated.**_

_**Sarah grimaced a little too, before looking at Alexx.**_

_**"Your first shift will be painful then" she said.**_

_**Will continued to flip through and then put the book down and covered his face with his hands. Sarah gave him a worried look.**_

_**"What is it Will?" She asked.**_

_**The man looked at his wife and then looked at his adoptive daughter and sighed.**_

_**"It says that her first shift will be...well...around now really" he said.**_

_**~End Flashback~**_

True to what the handbook had said, Alexx's first shift was quite painful and while the handbook had said that humans weren't supposed to be around someone who was experiencing their first shift, Sarah had ignored that and had stayed with Alexx all throughout the painful experience, eventually seeing the breathtaking animal that her adoptive daughter had shifted into. A majestic Black Panther, or Black Jaguar as the internet had told her, either way, her feline form was absolutely gorgeous. After that, more things had started happening, Alexx had grown a lot faster as had her mind and when Sarah woke up one day to find Alexx missing, well...it had scared the living daylights out of her. But nothing scared her more,than when she had found Alexx sitting atop the roof for the first time, she temporarily forgot that Alexx was a feline shifter and thus had excellent balance and kind of freaked out, scaring Alexx as well.

But the more Alexx did it, the more accustomed Sarah and Will got to yelling out the window or door when dinner was ready or when they needed to talk to her about something. Sarah found it both strange and exciting to have one normal child, a child that would grow at a normal human rate, and one child that would look like she was in her early twenties by the time she was twenty six months old. In a way, the blonde haired woman was glad that Alexx wouldn't be around as much as Annabelle grew up, that way there would be no questions from the youngster about why Alexx was so different and no secrets for the little girl to keep from her friends. She was glad that Annabelle would be able to go to school without knowing about the shifter who was her sister. But the more she thought about it, the more daunting it became, whether Alexx was her biological child or not, in a years time, she would go through what every other mother goes through after eighteen years, empty nest syndrome. She'd heard other parents talking about it, the feeling of complete helplessness and sadness when a child leaves home for the first time.

She dreaded the day Alexx left, without anyone to protect her from the people hunting her, the girl would need to lay low all her life, constantly looking over her shoulder. What a horrible way to live, but necessary if the feline shifter were to survive and live a long and healthy life, and her life would indeed be long, Sarah had looked up the life expectancy for a Jaguar and had seen that in captivity it can live for up to twenty years, but in the wild, it was only eleven years and upon reading the handbook, she saw that, because Alexx was a Shifter, she would live longer than humans and captive Jaguars put together due to her rapid healing rate. Sarah had inadvertantly found this out when Alexx has accidently cut herself on a bit of metal on the roof, she had come inside with a large gash on her arm that was bleeding profusely and Sarah had bandaged it up, after making sure that the blood vessels had constricted by using a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel. But the next morning when she had taken the bandages off, there was nothing but a pink scar.

Suddenly, the sound of Annabelle crying caught Sarah's attention and she turned to see that Alexx was bringing the baby to her, holding her out as far as her arms would allow her, causing Sarah to first panic, taking the baby off of the shifter, before she began to laugh at the face the black haired teen was making. A sure sign that Annabelle had soiled her diaper. Sarah's laugh dwindled to a mere chuckle as she got the baby changing mat and put it on the table, pulling out a spare diaper and some wipes and baby powder too, she kept her eye on Alexx, watching the faces she made.

"So...you like her when she's not pooping then" she said.

Alexx gave Sarah a look and poked her tongue out in a disgusted way, before making a disgusted sound and pulling her tongue back in.

"You try having a very sensitive sense of smell and see if you like the scent of human poop, especially baby poop" she said.

She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest, her hazel eyes glaring daggers at the blonde haired woman, who was still laughing.

"Suck it up Alexx, babies poop and pee all the time" she stated.

The feline shifter nodded.

"Yeah and cry and puke and gurgle and sleep and cry more and poop more and puke more and gurgle more" she listed.

Sarah laughed again and finished changing Annabelle, before unbuttoning her blouse and pulling her bra down, letting the little girl suckle.

"Well...you're gonna have to go through the same thing one day" she said.

Alexx chuckled.

"Yeah, but not for as long. Shifter kids are weaned at four months" she argued.

Sarah smiled and looked down to Annabelle, before looking back up.

"I reckon you'll make a great mom one day Alexx, with the way you play with Anna" she said.

Alexx snorted, but smiled anyway.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: So the second chapter is up, apologies for the fact that there's not a lot of speech until near the end, I needed the story to be more important than the speech, because truthfully, for the first few chapters, where Alexx is with Sarah and Will, the story is most important anyway, after the growing up part is done, there will probably be more speech. Anyway...I really hope you're enjoying this story so far and please don't forget to review.**_

**_Thank you for reading and enjoy_**

**_Vampyrex1_**

_Date Written: 21 June 2014_

_Word Count: 2989_

_Upload Date: Saturday 26 July 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 02 August 2014_


	3. Chapter 3

_********__For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, parings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._

**Chapter 3.**

_'While the reign of King Charles I brought with it a golden age for all shifter kind, with his majesty passing a motion that gave all shifters equal rights among humans, it was clear that the peace wasn't going to last. Some time after King Charles II ascended to the throne, he realised his father's mistake, as shifters were beginning to make a name for themselves. Some shifters obeyed the laws put in place by the Kings government while others broke them, they killed humans, maimed, stole from and raped them, all due to one shifter by the name of Onil, who thought, **believed** that shifters were above humans._

_Onil had a superiority complex, believing that the shifter species as a whole were far more superior to humans. Because of his way of thinking, he started a revolution against human kind, recruiting several other shifters of all shapes and sizes to join him on his quest to enslave mankind to a new race of royal shifters. Unfortunately, this caused the humans to judge the all shifters, even the peaceful ones ignited fear in the humans, causing them to ignore them and treat them like dirt. Many peaceful shifters shied away from the outside world, especially when a group of humans, who quickly became known as the Anti-Shifter Terrorist Squad started to hunt the shifters down. At first, the bullets were doing nothing, until one member of the ASTS made a harrowing discovery. He found that shifters could be killed with silver, so in light of this, silver bullets were quickly produced and shifters started dropping like flies._

_It wasn't until five years into the reign of King Charles II, that his main advisor made a startling realisation. If Shifters wanted to be treated like humans, then they could be punished like humans too, so once again, shifters were allowed to have the same rights as humans, as well as be punished under the same justice system for their crimes. Unfortunately, this didn't cease the activity of of the ASTS and they continued to hunt shifters all over the world, now that they knew their weakness, they felt empowered. But where there was the destruction of the ASTS, there was another group who didn't go by a name, who cared for the shifters, who all acted normally and went to school, getting veterinary degrees and doctorate degrees and pulled together to help the shifters. One of these guys, was the son of the late Thomas Moore. He hadn't taken up the same position as his father had, instead opting to live a normal life, much to the delight of the shifters'_

**(3 days later)**

Will was on his way home; after everything that had happened, with the bombing of the US SOCCENT Military Base and the battle in Mission City, all he wanted to do was get home and take his little baby girl into his arms for the first time. He hadn't cared when the guys had teased him about it, frankly he couldn't have given a shit what they thought, he was a family man, always had been and always will be and there was nothing wrong with that, well...nothing wrong that _he _saw anyway. A small sigh left his lips as he closed his eyes for a second, before opening them again and looking at the road in front of him, thinking about the previous events, giant alien robots, duelling in and destroying half of Mission City, it was surreal and if he hadn't of been there, he would never had believed it. What he found even more strange, was the fact that he seemed to be totally at peace with being _inside _one of said alien robots, while it..._he_ navigated the roads leading up to the Lennox household with ease, like he'd been doing it for years. He opened his mouth to attempt to start a conversation with the truck, but then closed it, realising that...he didn't know _how _to start a conversation with a super-advanced alien robot, so the rest of the journey was underscored by silence, just as the first half of the journey had been.

As they got closer to the Lennox household, excitement started to flow through his veins, he was about to meet his newborn daughter as well as see his wife and adoptive daughter again after five months. In truth, it wasn't that he was excited to see only Annabelle, but he was also keen to see just how much Alexx had grown both physically and mentally in the five months he'd been gone, he was sure it wouldn't have been much, but still. Before long, they arrived at the house on the top of the hill and Sarah came rushing out, baby in arms. Hurriedly getting out of the black truck, Will walked up to his wife and plucked the baby from her arms, holding the infant up and getting a good look at her, before pulling his wife into a hug and looking around for Alexx, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Sarah, where's Alexx?" He asked.

The blonde haired woman pulled out of the hug and motioned to the roof, causing Will to give a bit of a smile and go around to the back of the house, looking up at the figure sitting in a slumped position atop the building. He waited to see if the female shifter would realise he was there, but when she continued to stare out to the setting sun, he furrowed his brow and cleared his throat, gaining the attention of his adopted daughter. Through the semi-darkness, Will was able to see the girl's face split into a wide grin, as she got up and ran across the roof, jumping onto the tree and climbing down expertly, before jumping down the last few feet and running over to him, almost knocking him over in a kind of tackle-hug.

"I guess you missed me then huh?" He questioned.

Alexx looked up at him and smiled, nodding enthusiastically.

"Especially when it was on the news that your Base of Operations in Qatar was bombed, me and Sarah thought we'd never see you again" she replied.

Will smiled and hugged her again, before pulling away and taking her hand, walking back around to the front of the house. Everything seemed perfect again, until a loud warning growl emanated from Alexx's chest, something neither of the humans had ever heard from her before, it startled the both of them and caused Annabelle to become a little distressed. The black haired teen just stood there, staring at the truck, eyes fixated on one point and her growl was slowly getting more insistent, before she just turned around, grabbed Annabelle off of Will and bolted indoors. Instantly worried, Will followed her, eventually finding them under the stairs with Alexx crouched protectively over the little girl, eyes flickering between hazel and golden brown. A frown found its way onto his face and he turned around to see Sarah stood there with an almost humourous expression on her face, of which caused Will to become even more confused. He gestured to Alexx, while still looking at his wife.

"What's she doing?" He asked.

Sarah chuckled a little and shook her head, walking up to her husband and wrapping her arms around one of his.

"Alexx has...well...for lack of a better way to put it, she's appointed herself as Annabelle's guardian. Obviously that truck is a threat" she laughed.

She shook her head again and walked over to Alexx and Annabelle, only to be warned off by a threatening growl and an even more threatening look. This stunned her, Alexx had never done that to her before, she'd always let her near Annabelle. A quick glance over to Will saw him staring out the window at the truck with a thoroughly confused and concerned look upon his face. Sarah cast her eyes back to Alexx, before quickly making her way over to where her husband was stood, her hand slipping onto his shoulder, causing him to turn around and look at her.

"What's going on Will?" She asked.

Will made a face like he was in pain and then rubbed his eyes, he sighed and walked over to the couch and sat down on it. He badly wanted to tell Sarah, but certain circumstances prevented him from doing so. He groaned and combed his hand through his short hair, before looking up at his wife.

"I wish I could tell you Sarah, I really wish I could, but it's not something that can be told willy nilly" he said.

Sarah came and sat down next to him, putting her hand on his back.

"Will I don't...I don't understand" she whispered.

The man turned to her and took her hands in his own, looking down at them before raising his eyes to meet hers again.

"It's complicated Sarah and telling you could put you, Alexx and Annabelle in more danger than you're already in. I'm not going to risk either one of you, _especially_ not with people out looking for Alexx" he explained.

Sarah looked at him again and then nodded in understanding, top secret military business that she wasn't allowed to know about. She was used to that. A glance over to Alexx and Annabelle showed that the female shifter had calmed down a little now, but her eyes were still darting about, as if searching for a danger that wasn't really there. Suddenly, Annabelle began to cry and Sarah was instantly on her feet, heading towards the crying baby, but this put Alexx on alert again and she started to growl again, dropping into that defensive crouch, her head whipping around. Slowly, Sarah started to walk forwards, her hand outstretched in a calming manner.

"Alexx, Annabelle needs me, she's hungry Alexx, you need to let me take her now" she said.

Her tone was calming and almost authorative, but it did the job and Alexx allowed Sarah to take Annabelle, but the shifter female went with Sarah to the kitchen, standing guard over her while she fed the newborn baby. Sarah was indeed worried, Alexx had never acted like this, sure she was more than a little protective of the infant, but...never to this degree. Will came in and Alexx growled slightly, that is until she saw who it was, then she relaxed somewhat, but she didn't drop her guard. The human male sat down and looked over at Sarah, his gaze dropping to a nursing Annabelle before flickering up to Alexx, who was just staring out the window, as if the truck was right there. Sarah reached over and touched Will's hand, her face one of concern.

"I've never seen her like this Will, what's wrong?" She asked.

Will shook his head and sighed, reaching over, he picked up the handbook and flicked through it, putting it back when he didn't find anything remotely useful in it. He put his head in his hands, it seemed that Ironhide was the cause for all of this, but it wasn't like he could send the 'bot away, not after the big 'bot Optimus had appointed the black mech as the family's guardian. Once again he picked up the handbook, flipping through the pages again, hoping to find something in there to help them with this, but the same as last time...there was nothing. He wished that he could tell her that Ironhide was a sentient robot from another planet and that he was here to protect them, but unfortunately it wasn't up to him whether he was allowed to tell Sarah and Alexx or not, it was up to Boss 'bot and the SecDef, if Alexx kept up like this, then his time back home was going to be tense.

**(Ironhide)**

When he pulled up outside the Lennox residence, he immediately scanned the area, detecting two human energy signatures and one feline energy signature. He summised that the two human energies were Captain Lennox's mate and sparkling, but another quick scan of the area told him that there were no felines in the area. He growled internally and run another scan, getting the same result, which caused him to run a self diagnostic on all of his systems finding them to be in almost perfect working condition. He cycled his intakes in a deep vent, deciding that he would need to have Ratchet take a look at him whenever he could. He was more than a little confused when Captain Lennox went around to the back of the residence and a scan told Ironhide that the human male was looking up at the roof, the gruff mech scanned the residence again, showing him that a human was sat atop the roof. He listened and watched as Captain Lennox cleared his fuel lines and seemed to wait for a response to the female on top of the building. When the female finally acknowledged Captain Lennox, Ironhide was surprised to see her run across the sloped roof as if it were a flat surface and then for her to climb down a tree at such speed, it made his processors churn in a way he didn't like at all.

When Captain Lennox came back around to the front of the residence with the human female and sparkling in tow, Ironhide couldn't help but notice how different the young human female seemed in the presence of Lennox and his mate. The femme had hazel coloured optics with black coloured keratin rich strands that a quick search revealed as hair, her body seemed lithe and toned, unusual for a human femme her age, according to several sites he searched. He was shocked when a deep, resonating growl made its way to his audio receptors and instantly, he was scanning the area for any Decepticon activity, but when his scans turned up a big, fat nothing, he was hard pressed to decipher where the noise was coming from. However as the noise became more insistent, he did a short wave scan around the residence, finding that the growl was emanating from the human youngling, he was shocked to find out that the feline energy signature seemed to be coming from the young femme in front of him, but what shocked him even more, was that the feline energy signature seemed to have mingled with a human energy signature. How...how could two energy signatures of two completely different species mingle in the same place.

_Impossible._

There was no way! He couldn't think of any reason a human femme would have inhuman DNA, or at least traits of inhuman DNA. The only real solution he could come up with was that she was an experiment. He was startled out of his realisation when the human/feline femme snatched the Lennox sparkling out of the Captain's servos and hurried inside the residence, with the Captain following closely behind. He scanned the abode, listening in on what was happening and his processors froze, the femme appeared to be guarding the sparkling, but what for? Had she sensed something that he hadn't? He did another scan, just to make sure, only to find that everything was completely clear, there was no sign of danger at all. He grumbled to himself, this human/feline femme was something he would need to keep his optic on.

**(Normal)**

Will and Sarah made their way upstairs, getting themselves ready for bed; but one thing still lingered in Sarah's mind, what was it that caused Alexx to act the way she did as soon as she saw the truck? She looked over to her husband and gazed at him, deep in thought, there was something he wasn't telling her, she was sure of it, and it wasn't something that he wasn't allowed to tell her either. A sigh escaped her lips as she climbed into bed, watching as Will climbed in next to her and snuggled up to her. She tried to put the recent events out of her mind and get some rest, repeating to herself that, at least Annabelle was going to be safe with Alexx in the room with her...for now.

Alexx was stood by the window, gazing down at the truck, her hazel eyes narrowed and a soft growl escaping her lips as she sneered, before closing the curtains and tucking Annabelle in. She walked over to her bed and climbed into it, snuggling down under the covers and closing her eyes. The good thing about cats, was that they were light sleepers, so she knew she would be able to hear if anyone tried to break in or anything and she knew that she would be able to sense something or someone that didn't belong coming up to the house. But right now, the only thing that didn't belong, was the truck, it confused her. It was like...she could sense this energy coming off of it, a deep, dangerous energy and that kicked her protective instincts into overdrive, her sensitive hearing had picked something strange up too, it sounded almost like a heartbeat, but in the form of electrical pulses instead, she was sure it was coming from the truck, all her instincts and all her senses were telling her...that truck was bad news.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Yayyyy! Another chapter. So...I thought I would skip a few days after the initial battle in Mission City, after all this story isn't solely focussed on the Cybertronians and Sam and Mikaela and people like that, it's solely focussed on Alexx and the Lennox family. However, as the story goes on, the focus will of course switch from the Lennox family to the Cybertronians as Alexx becomes more friendly with the Autobots. Anyway, it took me a while to think about this one, how I was going to set it out and whether or not I should put Ironhide's POV in there, but...I did and now I'm glad that I did so, because I think it helps the story to flow a little more and also gives you an insight into how Ironhide feels about Alexx from first meeting her. Anyway...I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please don't forget to review.**_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 24 June 2014_

_Word Count: 3161_

_Upload Date: Saturday 02 August 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 09 August 2014_


	4. Chapter 4

_********__For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, parings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._

**Chapter 4.**

_'Eventually, things quieted down between the humans and the Shifters, but though the Anti-Shifter Terrorist Squad was disbanded, a few of the members struck out on their own, still carrying the ASTS name with them, unhappy that the King was allowing Shifters to live among humans, as equals and not treating them like the animals they were. They hid, taking down shifters in an inconspicuous manner so that no-one would notice, working their way from genus to genus, species to species, aiming to attempt to label the Shifter as an extinct species. However, when they realised that the Shifters were breeding faster than they were dying, the founder of the ASTS, a man named Peter Hangon decided to put something else into effect. He told his men that from now on, he wanted two unrelated males and two unrelated females of every genus and species, telling them that if humans can't kill Shifters efficiently, then an army of Shifters could do the work. This was immediately acquiesced by the other members and they set out to collect the livestock for their farms._

_Peter intended to breed his army from the Shifters he caught, keeping the strong and killing the weak offspring that were produced, however, he didn't want defective product, so several male and female offspring were kept and nurtured, because they would be able to breed a new generation of soldiers, whether they wanted too or not. See, he was counting on the basic animalian instinct for mating, placing females who were in heat, in a room with one sexually active male ensured that coitus happened and the male would be kept with the female until she conceived. These matings were watched very carefully, as some times it was hard to tell when the female was due in season. Soon, several hundred young shifters were being born, left to received the colostrum from their mothers and then taken so they could start their training. The men of the ASTS realised at the same time, that when a female was no longer nursing her young, she came into season quicker and they could breed her again almost straight away._

_It was horrific, as soon as a female shifter could produce no more offspring, they were killed and their bodies dumped in 3 foot graves outside of the territory of the farm/camp and a new female took up her place. It was a constant circle and only the strong were allowed to reproduce. What's worse, was that the strongest males were decided not by the natural order of things, but by duels that were watched and bet upon by the human men, then the weak males were slaughtered and used to feed the next generation. This happened in secret and is still happening around the world. The humans are oblivious to it, even though it is farming on an incredibly large scale, either they choose to ignore it, or they are too scared of the ASTS to do anything about it.'_

**(Two weeks later)**

Alexx had calmed down around the truck, but only minutely; whenever Annabelle was out crawling around by the imposing black GMC truck, the shifter femme was there, watching like a hawk. A week ago, Will had gone out and had come back with a strange male in tow, claiming him to be one of the guys he fought with when he was doing his tour of duty. The name struck Alexx as odd, Rob Hide. He was a burly man, with a scar going from his left shoulder, down to his right pectoral and he also had several scars on his face too, giving him and even gruffer look. His hair was jet black, the same colour as the truck and his eyes a stunning blue, not that Alexx took any notice, she was more interested in caring for Annabelle and it appeared the male had no interest in talking to her either.

What Alexx also found odd, was that Will, with the help of Rob, was building a large...well if she were to put it into perspective...barn around the back of the house. If she had to guess, she would say that it was at least twenty two foot tall. It struck her as strange, but didn't say anything about it, wanting as little contact as possible with Rob. It was on a hot day, when Annabelle was out in her walker in the front yard, while Sarah was hanging out washing, that Alexx got a strange feeling from the truck, causing her to give it an unseen glare. There was definitely something off about that truck. It wasn't that she was scared of it, it was more along the lines that...she knew that it wasn't a normal truck, she knew that because all other trucks she'd been near, didn't have the strange electric pulse this one had. She couldn't put her finger on it, it was like the truck was alive somehow. She shook her head and watched Annabelle, scowling slightly at how the little girl giggled and cooed as she walked between the little picket fence and towards the truck. This put Alexx on high alert, but more so when Rob came from around the back and glanced down at the little girl, just...staring at her. Alexx growled quietly, causing Rob to look up at her, before he crouched down to get a better look at the infant. All the while, his scanners were trained on Alexx, trying to work out if his systems really were malfunctioning.

**(Ironhide)**

The human/feline female just watched him as he interacted with the Lennox sparkling, he could tell she was tensing up, even more so when he reached out to touch the human infant. On Cybertron, he never had the chance to father a sparkling, the war had come first before anything else and it just never happened. He was a little put out that he wasn't the only one protecting this family, but then again, at least he won't be the one getting into trouble with Prime if a human got hurt, he could blame it on the overprotective female. Those eyes! He could feel them attempting to bore holes into the back of his holographic skull and he decided that he couldn't take any more of the scrutinisation and he got up, heading back around to where William was.

"Hey, you alright there 'hide?" Will asked.

Ironhide looked at him and grunted, before getting back to work. He wasn't a mech of many words, in fact he barely did any talking with the humans, he didn't understand them and their customs enough. However, if said human was talking about guns, well now...that...was a conversation he could easily fall into. There wasn't anything that Ironhide didn't know about guns, frankly, if he didn't know about it, then it wasn't worth knowing about. His holographic self vented deeply, his processors still trying to work out how the shifter could be, according to his memory banks and the human world wide web, not only were shifters meant to be legends, but said legends told of how Shifters were practically wiped off the face of the planet, that only a few, if any survived. He heard Will clear his throat and looked over at him, to see the human watching him with a smirk on his fleshy lip plates.

"What?" He asked.

Will shook his head and chuckled.

"Nothin, just wondering what you're thinking about, can practically see the cogs whirring in that head of yours" he said.

Ironhide furrowed his brow and glanced at the human.

"I don't see how that would be possible-" he began.

Will held up his hands in a motion that stopped Ironhide from speaking.

"Its a figure of speech" he said.

Ironhide grunted and muttered something about humans and their speech patterns before getting back on with the task at hand.

**(Normal)**

A few hours passed and Sarah had been slaving away in the kitchen for about twenty minutes, before she came out with three plates of sandwiches, three glasses of her homemade lemonade and a bottle of milk for Annabelle. Will accepted the food and drink eagerly, taking several gulps of the lemonade before thanking his wife and taking the sandwiches. He encouraged Ironhide to do the same, telling him when Sarah had gone, that he would eat the food and drink the lemonade and all the mech had to do was say that it was lovely. Alexx took her sandwiches and climbed up her tree, sitting on the roof to eat them, being sure to keep watching over Sarah and Annabelle, as well as watching over Will. As she sat there, she thought of how she could prove that the truck wasn't a truck, though she had a feeling that Will already knew that. She'd often been out here when Will had come out and he'd been talking to the truck, like it could understand him, it confused her and made her all the more suspicious.

She also had the feeling that Rob knew something about the truck too, because when she would be sat out here, watching the sun set, she would often glimpse him going to the truck and getting into it, but she would rarely see him get back out of it. There was also the fact that when Rob spoke, he didn't make any sense, talking about a person called Prime and Hatchet...he and Will once caught her on the roof and tried to play it off as people they served with in the army, but she knew the scent of a lie, even if Will was trained to be able to lie through his back teeth, she could smell it. She never called him out on it though, because she felt she could trust him. She looked over her shoulder and glanced at the truck, maybe she should try and trust that too...but then again, maybe she should just attempt to get some answers. A small plan formed in the back of her mind and she felt a small smirk adorn her lips. She would find out the truth tonight.

She finished her sandwiches and climbed down the tree, putting the plate in the sink and drinking her lemonade, before going to check on Annabelle and Sarah, the former of which was beginning to get tired after her lunch.

"I'll go put her to bed" she said.

Sarah smiled and thanked her and Alexx plucked Annabelle from the walker and took her into the house, putting the infant in her rocker and beginning to slowly rock her until she fell asleep. Being a cat, she was able to get back out of the house without waking the sleeping baby and handed the baby monitor to Sarah, who was getting ready to go and watch the two men work. Alexx then climbed up into her tree and, making sure that no-one was looking, she shifted to her panther form, before laying down on a thick branch and taking a nap, unaware that Ironhide had just witnessed the whole thing.

**(Later that night)**

When Will, Sarah and Rob had gone into the house, Alexx shifted back to her human form and climbed down the tree, before looking around and walking up to the truck. She circled it, sniffing the entire time to see if she could maybe smell anything on it, but all she could smell was the distinct scent of Ozone, metal and oil, nothing really out of the ordinary. She gave a growl and stopped at the front of the truck.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" She asked.

No answer. She knew she must've looked stupid, but she didn't care, her arms crossed under her breasts and she narrowed her eyes.

"Cause you know, I'm not stupid at all. I know you're not a truck, I don't know what you are, but I know you definitely aren't a normal truck" she said.

She sensed someone coming out behind her and she froze at the danger in the aura she could feel.

"You ain't all yer cracked up to be either femme" Rob said.

Alexx turned around and looked at him, narrowing her eyes.

"What?" She asked.

The butch male stepped towards her, making her tense in preparation to fight, for she wasn't the type of animal to embrace the flight response.

"I ain't the only one who's hidin somethin'" Rob said again.

Alexx growled and stepped forward, attempting to be threatening.

"Just what do you mean by that? How dare you! You walk into my territory and accuse me of hiding something. You have no right" she hissed.

Ironhide narrowed his holographic eyes at her and met her stance, practically standing chest to...well...throat with her.

"I got every right, I have been stationed here to protect the Lennox family, that means all of the Lennox family, including your sorry aft" he said.

Alexx growled again, not backing down, it wasn't in her nature to back down.

"I was doing perfectly well protecting this family before you came along, you don't need to be here. And I don't need protection, I can take care of myself" she snarled.

The man in front of her narrowed his eyes and stepped forwards once more, trying to intimidate her with his size.

"I doubt that for a nanosecond femme, you have no idea what's out there" he said.

Alexx bared her teeth and her eyes turned to golden brown as she shoved him backwards, surprising Ironhide with her strength.

"And you do?" She asked.

He glared at her and growled a little too.

"More than what you know femme" he replied.

Alexx glared at him and then growled again, before shaking her head.

"Whatever, I don't care. I don't need protecting and nor does my family" she said.

She walked off, leaving the male stood there, glaring after her.

**(Ironhide)**

His optics watched as she walked into the house and then he let a growl escape from him before his holoform disappeared. As he sat there, he replayed the image just before she had shoved his holoform away and there was no faulting this, her eyes had shifted colour, going from hazel to golden brown. Couple that with the image of her turning into a large, black feline in the tree earlier...his suspicions were correct.

_**:Ironhide to Prime:**_

There was a moment of static on the other side, before the deep baritone of the Autobot leader filled his audios.

_**:Prime, what is it Ironhide?:**_

Ironhide was quiet a second.

_**:It appears the Lennox family is already under protection Prime:**_

A tone was heard across the link.

_**:William has not informed us that he already has a protective detail on his residence:**_

Ironhide sent a tone back.

_**:That is because it appears that the protection has come in the form of a femme Optimus, and not your usual human femme either:**_

Silence.

_**:Decepticon?:**_

Ironhide sent a negative tone.

_**:Negative Prime, I am unsure of what the female is, scans of her show no sign of her being a cybertronian yet I plainly saw her shift into a different form in front of my optics:**_

This time a surprised, yet suspicious tone was sent back.

_**:Are you sure about this Ironhide?:**_

An affirming tone.

_**:Yes Prime, the femme shifted her form in front of me, when she thought I wasn't looking:**_

Silence again before the baritone was back.

_**:Is the femme aware that you know of this event?:**_

Ironhide replayed the argument earlier in his processors, before negating.

_**:No:**_

More silence before speech.

_**:Make sure it stays that way. Is she aware of your true form?:**_

Another negating tone.

_**:Good. Keep an optic on them Ironhide, if the Decepticon find the Lennox family, they may be after this mysterious femme:**_

Ironhide sent an affirming tone before he closed the communications and drifted into an alert recharge.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Aaaaaand...here's another chapter for you wonderful people to feast your eyes upon, I hope you enjoy this as much as you hopefully enjoyed the last three chapters. So...I wanted to put some interaction between Ironhide and Alexx in, as it would be the first step of a medium length journey that will end with them becoming mates, as well as Alexx mating with the other 3 Autobots too. I really hope I have Ironhide in character here, I don't want to be getting his character all wrong when faced with a situation such as this, and considering he's never going to be in a situation such as this, it was pretty much guesswork, taking his gruff personality and his imtimidating demeanour and putting it into words really. Anyway, I'd like to hope that this is really whetting your appetite for more, because it will hopefully start to get good from now on, with more interaction between Ironhide and Alexx and things like that. So...**__**I hope you enjoy this chapter and please don't forget to review.**_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 27 June 2014_

_Word Count: 2940_

_Upload Date: 09 August 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: 16 August 2014_


	5. Chapter 5

**__********_For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._**

**Chapter 5**

**(A few weeks later)**

A few weeks had passed since Alexx and Ironhide had talked and things had quietened down between them, albeit by only a small margin. She was still tensing up when in his presence, a sure sign that he wasn't welcome in her territory or near to her family, but it was clear that he had a job to do and he was going to do it regardless of whether she wanted him to or not. Also in the few weeks, the large barn that Ironhide and Will had been building had been completed and now the gruff mech had a place where he could transform and not be seen by Sarah or Alexx, which was good for him. Everything seemed to be going well, there were no signs of Decepticon activity near to where the Lennox family were and the Autobots were keeping their optics on the remaining Decepticons that had hid themselves around the globe. Currently, Will and Optimus were in talks with the government to start up an organisation called the Non-Biological Extra-terrestrial Species Treaty or NEST for short, which would give the Autobots and the humans a chance to work together to hunt down the remaining Decepticons for peace of mind and processor.

It was around Five am when Alexx came out of the house and used the tree to climb up onto the roof to watch the sunrise as she usually did, her eyes though weren't fixed on the horizon they were instead flicking between the horizon and the large barn that was at the back of the house. It was true that cats were too curious for their own good and being a feline shifter, she knew that all too well, her curiosity was peaked every time she saw Rob drive that black truck into the barn and she could hear mechanical scraping sounds as well as the sound of Rob grunting, or at least it _sounded_ like Rob, but she usually shook it off and did what she was doing. Today though, she made the promise to herself that she would see what was inside that barn when Rob took the truck into it, the truck still irked her and she couldn't get rid of the feeling that maybe the truck wasn't a truck after all. But there wasn't anything else that the truck could be, though it seemed that Will knew the truck's secret and he didn't seem to mind it either. Sighing and shaking her head, the feline shifter watched the sun climb high into the sky before she went back into the house to sort things out for the family that were just waking up. Will was the first one down the stairs, having woken up with the sun and he smiled at her.

"Morning Alexx" he said.

She smiled at him and handed him a cup of coffee that she had prepared, the man graciously accepted the mug and took a sip, groaning at the taste of it and shivering with the small buzz that sip gave him.

"You always know how I like my coffee" he stated.

This made Alexx laugh and she leaned on the counter, looking at him.

"Well, it isn't hard when I'm usually up to see you making your own drink. You like two heaped teaspoons of coffee and three teaspoons of sugar in the morning, but during the day the coffee and sugar are halved, you prefer one teaspoon of coffee and one and a half teaspoons of sugar, logical reason would point to the fact that a strong and sweet coffee in the morning gives you the desired caffeine buzz that you need to wake up" she said.

Will gave her a look and then waved his hand and shook his head.

"It's too early in the morning to even _try _to understand what you just said" he said.

Again Alexx laughed and then Sarah came down the stairs with Annabelle in her arms and the feline shifter held out another cup of coffee and put a warm bottle of milk on the counter as Sarah handed Annabelle to Alexx and took her coffee, watching as the shifter picked up the bottle and popped the lid off with one hand before feeding it to Annabelle. Sarah had learned early on that Alexx could tell that the milk was the correct temperature without testing it on her hand and could just feed it to Annabelle. When she'd first done it, Sarah had warned her that feeding milk that was too hot to a baby was dangerous and that had been when Alexx had explained to her that she could easily tell what the temperature of the milk was without testing it.

"Did you two sleep well?" Alexx asked.

Both Sarah and Will nodded as they drank their coffee, making the shifter female smile. She was used to the fact that neither of them spoke until they'd had their first coffee of the morning and then they would talk, so she just sat down at the table, with Annabelle in the crook of one arm and the bottle in her other hand. Once the child had finished the bottle, Alexx put a towel over her shoulder and began to rub the infant's back to get her to burp; this was when Rob chose his moment to enter the house. Alexx ignored him, even as he came to stand in the kitchen and Sarah offered him a drink, which he declined, keeping his eyes on how Alexx was treating Annabelle. The shifter looked at him and narrowed her eyes.

"What?" She asked.

Rob just glared at her before looking away and concentrating on Will.

"The boss would like to speak with you William, we should be en route as soon as possible" he said.

Alexx growled and gave him a glare.

"At least let the man wake up before you start dragging him off gallivanting around" she hissed.

Rob once again just glared at her before looking at Will to get his confirmation of the matter. When Will nodded and put his coffee cup down, he walked out of the kitchen and back upstairs to get showered, shaved and changed while Sarah decided that she would get on with some housework while Alexx was looking after the baby. Alexx glared at Rob and then set Annabelle on the table, taking the towel off of her shoulder and holding it under Annabelle's chin while still rubbing her back, until Annabelle spewed up a little and then Alexx wiped her mouth off with the towel and chuckled it to the washing, which just so happened to be where Rob was standing. The soiled towel hit his leg and he glared at Alexx once again.

"Do you mind?" He asked.

Alexx looked at him and then looked at the towel and then looked at him again.

"Not my fault if you choose a stupid place to stand" she replied.

She then got up with the baby and walked up the stairs, picking out a nice clothing set for Annabelle to wear before getting a change of diaper and walking back down the stairs. Seeing as Will was in the shower, there was no chance of bathing Annabelle in the bathroom, so she walked into the kitchen and put the stuff on the table. She then walked over to the sink and put the plug in, filling it up half way with hot water and then filling the rest up with cold water, before turning the taps off, grabbing the baby changing mat and putting it on the counter next to the sink and placing Annabelle on it. With that done, Alexx began to strip Annabelle, first taking off her onesie and then her diaper, which she folded up and put in the bin, before she set Annabelle in the sink, picking up the jug and beginning to wash the baby.

Once that was done, Alexx let the water out of the sink before she plucked a nice, fluffy bath towel from the clean laundry and wrapped it around Annabelle. She then lifted the infant out of the sink and put her onto the baby changing mat, beginning to dry her. Once that was done, Alexx started to dress Annabelle, first putting her diaper on, then putting her maroon leggings on, then putting her vest on and then putting on her little denim dress. With that done, she took Annabelle into the lounge and placed her in her walker, just as Sarah had finished cleaning the lounge and Will came walking down the stairs.

"Are you ready 'hide?" He asked.

The other male made a show of walking out of the kitchen and nodding at Will, before walking out of the front door and closing it. Will shook his head and walked up to Sarah, kissing her.

"I'll be back soon" he said.

Sarah nodded and watched as Will kissed Annabelle on the head and did the same with Alexx before walking out of the door, the engine of the truck was then heard starting up and the crackle of gravel as they pulled out of the drive.

"I'm gonna go up for a shower, are you alright looking after Annabelle for a bit longer?" Sarah asked.

Alexx looked away from the door and smiled, nodding at her adoptive mother.

"Sure, I don't mind" she said.

Sarah thanked her and hurried up the stairs to take a nice shower and get changed.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Ironhide and Will)**

As they were diving along the road to the airstrip, Ironhide was tempted to ask about Alexx, but instead decided to leave it as he knew Optimus would probably want to ask the same question and if he had learned one thing about humans in his time posted with the Lennox family is that, they didn't like repeating themselves. So it would make sense that if Optimus did ask about the strange female living with him, Will would tell Optimus which would undoubtedly lead to Ironhide knowing about the femme too. As they came up to the airstrip, the C-17 was there to pick them up and Ironhide drove right into the back of the aircraft, shutting off his engine and activating his holoform so he could speak with Will.

"Did you recharge sufficiently William?" He asked.

Will looked at him and nodded smiling.

"Yeah, I slept fine 'hide. What is it Optimus wants to talk to me about?" He asked.

Ironhide faltered for a minute, deciding whether or not he should tell Will about what Optimus wanted to talk about. He vented his intakes and looked at his charge.

"Optimus is aware that there is a being in your residence who may possess a threat to you, your mate and your sparkling" he said.

Will gave him a look and thought about what Ironhide had just said before his eyes opened wide and he chuckled.

"Who Alexx? She's not a threat, she's my daughter" he said.

Ironhide rumbled his engines and Will felt tingly all over, but before he could ask what it was, Ironhide began to speak again.

"Your DNA does not match hers William. Why are you lying to me?" He asked.

Will glared at the holoform.

"I'm not lying Ironhide, Alexx is my daughter. She doesn't have to be blood related to be my daughter, its what we humans call, non-biological daughter. See, Annabelle is my biological daughter, meaning she has my DNA and Sarah's DNA, but because Alexx doesn't share our DNA it doesn't mean she's not our daughter" he explained.

Ironhide processed this new information and nodded. He understood now that while Alexx didn't share the Lennox mate's DNA, she was still considered as their sparkling.

"You and your mate would raise another bonded's sparkling?" He asked.

Will nodded and smiled.

"Well, we really didn't have a choice Ironhide, it was either take her in as our own or leave her to die and Sarah's caring nature and maternal instinct wouldn't let her do that" he replied.

Ironhide nodded in understanding. Though it was heard of on Cybertron, a bonded pair taking in the sparkling of a pair who had been offlined and raising said sparkling as their own, it wasn't really noticed all that much until the war when several mechs and femmes were offlined, leaving sparklings without their creators. He vented his intakes again and kept quiet for the rest of the journey.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Diego Garcia. Autobot base of Operations)**

When Ironhide and Will arrived at the Autobot base in Diego Garcia, the gruff mech drove the human into the base and stopped, opening his door for Will to get out before transforming when he was sure that Will was clear. When this was done, Ironhide lowered his servo so Will could climb on and once he had, the mech walked over to where Optimus was.

"Optimus" he said.

The large mech turned around and nodded his helm in greeting to the black mech before looking down to Will.

"Ah, Major Lennox, it is good to see you" he said.

Will nodded up at the mech.

"You too Optimus. What's this I hear you want to talk to me about my daughter?" He asked.

Optimus' optics shone brighter for a second before going back to their usual brightness.

"Indeed, Ironhide has informed me that you have an unidentified being living in your residence, who may pose a threat to you, your mate and your sparkling. The news has unsettled me somewhat" he answered.

Will sighed and shook his head.

"Okay, first thing's first, Alexx isn't a threat, she's my daughter" he said.

Optimus went to say something but Will held his hand up.

"Yes, I know her DNA doesn't match mine, she's adopted. Second of all, she isn't an _'unidentified being' _she's a...well...she's a shifter" he said.

Optimus' optics dimmed and Will guessed that he was looking up the term 'shifter'. As soon as Optimus' optics came back to their normal brightness, he looked down at the human.

"Your World Wide Web does not have much information on these so called 'shifters', would you care to elaborate?" He asked.

Will sighed and started to tell Optimus about what he'd read in the handbook and in the letter that Alexx's true parents had left with her on the night that Sarah had found her. He told them how Alexx was only around nineteen months old and how she already looked to be in her mid teens and about how fast her healing ability was. Hearing this, Ratchet transformed and joined in on the conversation.

"Impossible, no being can heal that fast" he said.

Will turned and looked at the medic.

"Well she did. She cut her hand, quite deep too and Sarah put some butterfly stitches, which are little uh...strips of tape that help bring the two sides of the wound together so it can heal better, and she wrapped it in a bandage. By the next afternoon or morning, whichever, the wound was nothing but a pink scar on her palm" he explained.

Ratchet and Optimus looked at each other and then they both looked at Will.

"And you say that she is very protective of your sparkling?" Optimus asked.

Will nodded and then Ironhide interjected.

"When I first arrived at the Lennox residence, the femme took the sparkling out of William's servos and appeared to be guarding her. I don't know what provoked such a response, I scanned the area and it was clean" he said.

Will took his chance to speak then.

"That was because of you Ironhide. Somehow she was able to sense that Ironhide wasn't a truck and not knowing about you guys and having never seen you before, she perceived you as a threat" he explained.

Ratchet snorted.

"That's preposterous, while Ironhide may be a lughead, he's not a threat to you or your family, he is your guardian" he said.

Will nodded.

"I know, but she didn't know that and you guys don't want your secret out, so I couldn't tell her or Sarah that you weren't a threat" he said.

Optimus nodded in understanding, not liking how this femme seemed to be able to shift her form into that of a large, wild animal at will. However, Will seemed to trust her, and he trusted Will.

"I am not happy about this turn of events, however if you have complete trust in this shifter, I will trust your judgement" he said.

Will nodded and they talked about some other things before Will and Ironhide left the base and made their way back to the airstrip.

"You alright now Ironhide?" He asked.

The mech rumbled.

"I understand that Alexx is merely trying to protect you and your family, but I am unsettled. We have never come across shifters before and to learn that there is one living with those I have a duty to protect..." He began.

Will smiled.

"Don't worry Ironhide, she doesn't mean you any harm, she's just over protective is all" he stated.

Ironhide rumbled again before he drove into the cargo hold of the plane.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Normal/That night)**

Things got back to normal when Ironhide and Will returned home, the dinner was served and the washing up was done and so were the baths, before Alexx made her way onto the roof to watch the sunset. As she did, she noticed Rob driving that truck into the barn again and she slowly climbed down the tree. Creeping over to the large brown barn she heard the scraping of metal and a groan, she opened the door slightly, glad that the rivets were new and didn't squeak. Poking her head into the barn, her protective instincts were put on full alert when she saw a large black robot stood there, its form barely able to be seen by human eyes, but she saw it perfectly. The robot was tall, stocky and had lumps on its arms and its eyes seemed to glow a bright blue, however she wasn't focussing on that,she was focussing on the fact that there was a robot in the barn and her protective instincts kicked in. A growl rose in her chest and she flung the door open, baring her teeth and snarling at the large robotic form.

Ironhide heard the growl and then the snarl and turned to face the female, his weapons drawn and powered up. When he saw that it was just Alexx, he lowered his weapons, before noticing the look on her face and the heat in her eyes. She continued to growl at him, staying where she was and slowly dropping into a defensive crouch.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She growled.

Ironhide was about to retort but he huffed instead.

"I don't have to answer that femme" he said.

Alexx either didn't recognise the voice, or she was too preoccupied with trying to protect her family.

"Answer me _robot_" she hissed.

Ironhide looked down at her and smirked.

"No" he said.

Alexx growled more and Ironhide smirked more before the femme looked around.

"Where is Rob and that demon truck?" She asked.

Ironhide narrowed his optics at being called a demon truck and his cannons whirred.

"I am _not_ a demon truck" he growled.

Alexx hissed.

"I wasn't talking about you, you overgrown trash can, where is Rob?" She asked.

Ironhide growled.

"He's right here" he replied.

Again Alexx hissed.

"Where?" She demanded.

Ironhide growled.

"You're lookin at him" He stated.

Alexx growled.

"No, Rob Hide is a cock-sure human who enjoys pissing me off, not some freakish black robot so I'll ask again...where...is...Rob Hide?" She asked.

Ironhide growled and powered up his weapons.

"For the love of Primus human, Rob Hide is not real" he said.

Alexx growled.

"Yes he is, I saw him with my own two eyes" she said.

Ironhide growled and clenched his fists.

"No you glitched femme, Rob Hide is a holographic form that I use to blend in with the humans" he explained.

Alexx growled.

"So what do you want? Using a holographic form to get close to my family and then what?" She asked.

Ironhide turned around and silently prayed for Primus to give him strength, before he turned back to Alexx.

"Ask William, I do not have the patience to explain this to you" he said.

He then turned around, a sign that he was done talking. Alexx growled and walked out of the barn, heading into the house. She would talk to Will in the morning.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: And here's the fifth chapter, as promised more interaction between Alexx and Ironhide as well as more speech than story. As I'm sure you've noticed that I didn't put an introduction on this chapter. That's because, everything that needed to be said was said in the first four chapters. I may put tidbits of information from the handbook at the start of each chapter from the next chapter, but that would depend on whether you guys want me to or not.**_

_**Anyway, I want to thank all of you who read, reviewed, favourites and followed this story, I'm glad you're all enjoying it. I do hope I have everyone in character and I hope you enjoy this chapter. **_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**__**  
**_

_Date Written: 29 July 2014_

_Word Count: 3687_

_Upload Date: Saturday 16 August 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 23 August 2014_


	6. Chapter 6

**__********_For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._**

**Chapter 6.**

**(The next morning)**

Alexx was on the roof just staring at the barn where she'd seen that robot last night. She sighed and shook her head, closing her eyes she brought her knees up to her chest and put her head on them. The fact that Will obviously knew about that thing in the barn and didn't tell her made her upset, she thought he trusted her. A sigh escaped her mouth as she heard the floor boards creaking and she climbed down her tree, glimpsing into the house to see that it was Will getting up. She sighed again and climbed the rest of the way down the tree and grabbed the morning paper before she walked into the house. As soon as he came down the stairs she smiled at him and went into the kitchen to make his coffee. Once done, she turned around and gave him the drink before leaning against the counter, she thought about how to approach the subject of the giant black robot.

She chewed the inside of her lip as she thought about what she was gonna say, she wasn't usually this tongue tied, but this wasn't any normal matter. She took a deep breath in and let it out in a sigh before she looked at Will.

"Can I talk to you Will?" She asked.

The man looked up from the paper he was reading and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to speak. He watched as she came and sat down opposite him and spread her arms out on the table.

"So...I noticed something last night..." She began.

Will's eyes went wide and his mouth flapped about, but Alexx put her hand up and stopped him from saying anything.

"I don't blame you for not telling me, I mean...its kinda a big thing, but I guess its something that has to be kept a secret right?" She asked.

By this time Will was blushing and his mouth was still flapping like a fish out of water. Before he cleared his throat and put his cup down on the table, crossing his arms a little before uncrossing them and fidgeting a little.

"Alexx, you know its completely natural right?" He questioned.

The shifter femme opened her mouth to speak, but then his words sunk in and she made a face at him.

"Huh?" She asked.

Will looked at her with a serious face.

"What Sarah and I do is completely natural, its the way Annabelle was created, one day you'll go through it yourself" he said.

By this time, Alexx was confused even more.

"What the duck are you on about Will?" She asked.

Will furrowed his brow a little.

"Sex. Its completely natural and one day you'll have it too" he replied.

The way he said that and the way he obviously didn't know what she'd been talking about made her crack up laughing. Will raised an eyebrow again and then he narrowed his eyes.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

Alexx laughed even harder, before managing to calm herself down.

"Oh nothing, except the fact that...you haven't got an _iota_ about what I'm talking about" she said.

Will's eyes opened so wide that Alexx thought they were going to pop out of his head. But then she shook her head.

"I wasn't talking about sex Will, I know how babies are made, I know about sex and how pleasurable it is for humans, but how _excruciatingly_ painful it is for cats...but I was _talking_ about the big ass robot that we got living in our barn" she stated.

She looked at her adoptive father and burst into I more laughter as she looked at his face. His eyes were wide, his mouth was slightly open and his entire face was red down to the neck. He cleared his throat and picked up his cup of coffee.

"It is too early in the morning to be talking about this with you" he said.

Alexx nodded.

"So I'll blame your poor attempt at 'the talk' on you not being awake fully yet then shall I?" She asked.

Will nodded.

"Please do. Now, I'm going to drink my coffee and go up for a shower, then I'm gonna make some calls" he said.

The shifter femme nodded again and then cocked an eyebrow.

"And then we'll talk about the big ass robot that we got living in our barn right?" She pushed.

Will just gave her a look.

"Right" he said.

He then picked up his cup of coffee and continued to drink it, trying to ignore the snickers that were coming from his adopted daughter.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**(Half an hour later/Will)**

After drinking his coffee, Will had gone upstairs and got into the shower. He couldn't believe what he'd said to Alexx, it was every parents nightmare to be asked the question about sex...well...maybe not every parent's nightmare, but it was definitely his nightmare and to find out that she hadn't even been talking about sex, well that just put the icing on the cake. However, right now, that wasn't what concerned him, what had him in a tiffle with his own mind, was the fact that Alexx knew about Ironhide.

"Damned it!" He hissed.

He had hoped to keep the mech from her for as long as possible, at least until he was needed and she found out by watching him save her and the family, but to find out by...he thought about it...he didn't even know how she'd found out about Ironhide...he'd have to ask her...hopefully when he could face her without blushing as red as a tomato. He sighed as he washed his face and got out of the shower, if he was going to tell Alexx about Ironhide, he may as well tell her about the rest of the mechs...if he thought about it...it would be better to just show her the mechs, but to do that he'd need to make a few calls.

Once he was dressed, he pulled out his phone and sighed. Optimus could be contacted via phone now and talking to him over the phone, was almost as nerve wracking as talking to him face to face. He sighed and dialled the number. As soon as the big mech answered, Will told him about Alexx finding out about Ironhide and he explained that if he was going to tell the girl about Ironhide, he may as well kill two birds with one stone and tell her about the others too. The big mech had been reluctant, but he had agreed and had said that he would talk to the Defense Secretary about the situation and inform Ironhide of the result. Will thanked him and then hung up, twirling the phone in his hands as he sat on the bottom of the bed, when he heard Annabelle start to cry. He felt Sarah move and heard a small groan, signalling that she was waking up.

"Morning baby" she said.

Will turned to her and smiled, getting up off of the bed and walking around to her, kissing her on the lips and then pulling away, kissing the back of her knuckles.

"You go and get yourself sorted, I'll take care of Belle" he said.

Sarah nodded and got out of bed, slipping her nightgown on and heading to the bathroom. Will took a deep breath in and went into Annabelle's room, picking the crying baby up and walking down stairs with her, heading into the kitchen to sort out the baby bottle, only to have said bottle thrust into his hand.

"I heard her crying" Alexx said.

Will nodded and sat down, putting Annabelle sat in his lap and holding the bottle up to her mouth. The infant greedily suckled on the nipple of the teat and Alexx smiled.

"Aren't you glad you have a shifter in the house?" She asked.

The man looked up at her and gave her a confused look, which made her chuckle.

"I had the bottle made as soon as I heard the first noises of her beginning to cry" she elaborated.

Will nodded and then smiled, before Rob appeared in the door way.

"Optimus said that Defense Secretary Keller has approved of Alexx meeting the others" he said.

The military man turned towards the holographic form and nodded, before motioning to Annabelle.

"Kinda busy at the minute 'Hide, but we'll go as soon as I'm done here" he stated.

Rob nodded and gave Alexx a slight glare before disappearing. Alexx just glared at the place he'd just been and then she snorted.

"Damned toaster" she muttered.

Unfortunately Will heard that and he glared at her.

"Be nice Alexx, that _toaster _is my guardian" he chided.

The shifter looked at him and raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head.

"What did it mean when it said that Defense Secretary keller has approved of Alexx meeting the others...what others?" She asked.

Will just looked at her before he continued to feed Annabelle.

"You'll find out soon alright Alexx, just...don't worry about it for now" he said.

The shifter femme sighed and started to clean up the top where she'd spilled some of the baby formula.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Later that morning)**

After Will had finished feeding Annabelle, he'd cleaned up and walked out of the house with Alexx following him. He got into Ironhide, but she was apprehensive about doing so. Will sighed and looked at her.

"Come on Alexx, he's not gonna bite" he said.

Alexx growled and then got into the truck, glaring at the dashboard as she sat in the seat and crossed her arms.

"Can you tell me where we're going please?" She asked.

Will looked at her and smiled a little.

"I can't, but...you'll find out when we get there" he replied.

Alexx sighed and slumped a little in the seat, playing the rebellious teenager for all it was worth. But then again, she _was_ a teenager by the standards of Jaguars...so it was right. They drove for a while, before they got on a plane and headed towards Mission City, of course the base wasn't there, but it was the only airport that was closest to the Hoover Dam base. Once they got on the plane, Alexx was immediately out of the front seat and in the back seat, where she proceeded to wind Ironhide up, by kicking the back of the seat she'd just vacated. This caused Ironhide to emit low growls that gradually got louder and louder until they were practically vibrating the entire truck.

"Alexx, stop doing that" Will said.

The teen looked at him and gave him an innocent look.

"Stop what?" She asked.

Will turned and glared at her, before raising an eyebrow.

"I know what you're doing Alexx, stop kicking the back of the chair" he replied.

Alexx sighed and gave the back of the chair one last kick, before letting her legs drop to the floor.

"Are we there yet?" She asked.

Will groaned and put his head in his hands, the one thing he wasn't looking forward to was the _'Are we there yet' _thing that kids and teenagers sometimes if not always did. It was going to get annoying for more than just him.

"No Alexx, we have about a half an hour flight" he said.

The black haired girl smirked a little and then opened her mouth, but Will held up a finger.

"Say 'Are we there yet' once more and I'll let Ironhide use you for target practice" he warned.

At the sound of this, Alexx shut her mouth and sat in the back seat pouting, before she perked up and opened the back door, climbing out of the truck and going to sit on one of the benches. Will narrowed his eyes at her and motioned for her to get back into the truck, but she shook her head and stayed where she was. The man narrowed his eyes even more, this was going to be a long half hour.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Half an hour later)**

Finally the plane landed and Ironhide, Will and Alexx were on their way to the Hoover Dam base that the Autobots were currently occupying until they could get a bigger base. With talks about a new strike team to hunt down and disable the remaining Decepticons, there was also talk of a new base in Diego Garcia, but nothing was concrete as of yet. As Will effectively _'drove' _towards the base, he could see Alexx wasn't fidgeting anymore and he turned around to see her just sat there, looking out of the window. From her posture he could tell that she was a little nervous about what was going on and he reached back to put a hand on her knee.

"You'll be alright" he said.

She looked at him and smiled a little, she might act tough, but even the toughest of animals gets scared sometimes. She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest as they drove over the bridge towards the Hoover Dam, the place was huge, easily able to house several giant robots, that was why they made this their base for the time being. As they came to a gate, the soldier on guard checked Will's pass and nodded to let them through, but not before he gave Will a visitors pass to give to Alexx, she'd need it to avoid being kicked off the base.

Ironhide drove into the base and Alexx's jaw went slack at the sheer size of the place, not to mention the gorgeous vehicles that seemed to be parked in a line...well, there were only two vehicles, but that was enough. However, she got the same feeling from them that she did from the truck she was in and she swallowed a growl. When Ironhide stopped, Will and Alexx got out and Will took the girl over to the large Peterbilt.

"Right Alexx, I want you to meet Optimus Prime" he said.

As he said this, the Peterbilt began to transform into a giant forty foot tall robot. Alexx stepped back a little, hissing in fright, before Will calmed her down.

"Its alright, he won't hurt us" he said.

Alexx still glared up at the robot, a small growl escaping her. Will then pointed to the Hummer.

"That's Ratchet" he said.

The Hummer then transformed into a twenty-two foot robot and Alexx growled even louder at this, pulling away from Will and hissing. Then the truck behind her started to transform and she turned around and emitted a loud warning growl followed by a hiss.

"And that's Ironhide" Will said.

Alexx looked between all the robots and growled as she did, slowly backing away from all of them and bolting out of a door. Will called her back, but she kept running, prompting the man to follow her.

"Alexx!" He called.

However, she'd already shifted and hidden behind a pile of boxes. Will stopped and sighed, rubbing his face as he walked back into the main part of the base.

"That went well" Ironhide said.

Will glared up at him and sighed.

"It could've gone better. For all the tough talk she put on, I guess she really is a scaredy cat" he said.

Optimus looked down at the human and cycled his intakes.

"William, all creatures feel fear, perhaps it is the fact that you brought her off her own territory" he suggested.

Will looked up at the big bot and sighed again.

"I guess you're right. Now we need to wait until she decides she can come back out" he said.

Optimus rumbled and looked in the direction Alexx had gone.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Okay, first thing's first, I apologise if this chapter isn't as good as the last ones, my beta can't get online and I had a tough time coming up with this one, so I once again apologise if this chapter's quality is poor. Also, I hope you can appreciate the little bit of humour I tried to put in this chapter to provide a bit of comic relief from an otherwise serious story, if it works, please do let me know. Now, as I'm sure you've seen, Alexx has met the Autobots and ran away from them, this is because...even though big cats like Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Jaguars, Cheetahs etc are big and tough, they also feel fear and I thought this was a perfectly natural response. **__**Anywho...I hope you all enjoy this chapter and thank you for all of your reviews.**_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 21 August 2014_

_Word Count: 2890_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 23 August 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 30 August 2014_


	7. Chapter 7

**__********_For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._**

**Chapter 7**

**(A few weeks later)**

Alexx had now calmed down around the Autobots, in the sense that she was no longer hissing and growling at them every time they transformed, instead she was agitated around them for a different reason. In the last week, Alexx had experienced her first ever heat and ferocity in which she experienced it damn near scared her, she was flirting with the soldiers and the mechs at every chance she could, even if she didn't mean too. Of course, some of the soldiers readily welcomed her advances whether they were intentional or not, and who could blame them, a beautiful young woman flirting with them, most of which were single and sexually depraved. However, as soon as Will worked out what was happening, he told the men to back off, warning them that Alexx was his daughter and under the protection of Ironhide too. That was enough to warn most of them off, but one man still went after her, despite his marriage to a wonderful woman and his two beautiful daughters, he wanted to have a taste of the shifter femme.

Currently, Alexx was in the mess hall nursing a cup of tea when the man came in and sat next to her with a cup of coffee. He nudged her a little and smiled at her, his hand going under the table and squeezing her knee, before it began to move upwards, causing her to shiver in arousal. When his hand got close to the apex of her thighs, Alexx got up and walked outside leaving the man there. After a few minutes, the man got up and followed her outside to find her leaning against the wall in a seductive pose, he walked up to her and started nibbling at her neck.

"If your dad catches us, we'll be in trouble" he whispered.

Alexx leaned her head to the side to give him better access to her neck while she moved her knee to his crotch and rubbed her hands up his arms, down his sides and up his back and into his hair.

"We'd best not get caught then" she said.

The man pulled back and grinned at her, before he quickly began to undo pants and Alexx pushed her pants to her knees, turning around, pressing her hands against the wall and bending over, exposing her already dripping womanhood to him. Stepping up to her, the man tested how wet she was before he pushed himself into her, breaching her hymen as he did. He up a slow and steady rhythm that gradually sped up until she came around him, turning her head towards him.

"Pull out before you finish" she said.

The man kept thrusting, with no intention of pulling out, he knew that he had every intention of finishing inside her, knowing it could cause her to become pregnant. Unlucky for him, Alexx realised what he was doing and stomped on his foot, making him cry out and pull away from her, holding his foot.

"You bitch!" He groaned.

Alexx pulled her pants up and turned to face him. He looked at her and pushed her against the wall, starting to jerk off in front of her, intent on leaving his mark on her. However, she pushed him away just as he came.

"I told you to pull out!" She hissed.

The man came up to her again, still stroking his manhood and fumbling with her jeans button and zip, however, Alexx pushed him away, grabbed his shoulders, pushed him against the wall and grabbed his balls, twisting and pulling.

"Stay away from me you bastard!" She growled.

Then she gave a sharp twist of his balls and walked off into the base, leaving him on his knees. She walked back into the mess hall and grabbed a bottle of water, telling the guy that her father would pay for it, then she walked outside the base again, walking away from the man and over to one of the residential buildings that was on the grounds and using a tree to get onto the roof. Sighing, she opened the bottle of water and took a large sip of it before closing it up again and staring out to the horizon, tears accumulating in her eyes as she did. After a few minutes, she heard the hissing of hydraulics and turned to see Ironhide walking towards her, she sighed and looked away from him, not needing his in your face attitude right now. But, as he came up to her, he didn't say a word and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look towards the horizon himself and she realised that he was waiting for her to say something. But what could she say? She knew she'd been an idiot by letting that man be her first, but not doing anything had hurt her. Once again she sighed and briefly turned her head towards the large black mech before she looked back to the horizon.

"I was stupid" she muttered.

Ironhide turned his head towards her briefly, before he too looked back to the horizon. He didn't really know what to say, he could tell by her posture that she was upset about what she'd done and it didn't take a genius to know exactly what she'd done. He cycled his intakes and once again turned his head towards her, taking in everything about her, he was glad that out here, he didn't have to put up with the scent of her pheromones invading his scent receptors, so being near her was easier and he wasn't trying to fight his own body. He looked back to the horizon and cycled his intakes again.

"You needed it" he stated.

Alexx turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow, was he trying to be sympathetic towards her? She snorted and turned her head back towards the horizon, wishing she could be at the beach so she could watch the sun set into the ocean and hopefully see the green flash. She put her bottle down next to her and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head on them.

"Need it or not, I was stupid to let him take the one thing that I valued above everything else" she said.

Ironhide huffed and turned his head towards her.

"You regret it?" He asked.

Alexx turned her head towards him, still resting it on her knees and she nodded, before turning so that her chin was back on her knees.

"Yeah, I regret it" she replied.

Ironhide rumbled a little and turned his whole body towards her, staring at her.

"We all do things we regret Alexx, ya just gotta put it behind ya and move on" he reasoned.

Alexx once again turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow as best she could, before lifting her head off of her knees.

"How'm I supposed to do that when the guy is on the base all the time?" She questioned.

Ironhide raised an optic ridge and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ignore him" he said.

The shifter narrowed her eyes and then shook her head.

"I can't do that, he's liable to tell Will about what happened" she whispered.

The gruff mech shrugged and gazed at her.

"Then ya tell Will yourself and then ignore the guy. That way Will can keep an optic on him" he reasoned.

Alexx snorted and looked away from the black mech.

"You know what Will's like when it comes to me he's overprotective because of me being a shifter and people being out to get me because of that. Plus he'll be angry at me" she said.

Ironhide cycled his intakes.

"Look, I'm no good at this kinda stuff, but what I can tell ya is that, Will is gonna be more angry if ya _don't _tell him, than if ya tell him. Plus, he's your mech creator, he has a right to worry about ya" he said.

Alexx looked at him and shook her head.

"No he doesn't and no he's not. He's my adoptive father, there is nothing that makes me his daughter apart from the fact that when I was a baby, Sarah found me on their doorstep and took me in because my real parents abandoned me" she said.

Ironhide growled and moved himself so that he was right in front of her, glaring at her with hard optics.

"From what Will has told us, your parents had no choice but to leave you on the doorstep of Sarah Lennox's residence, to give you a chance at living. Do you not think that if they could have looked after you and raised you themselves they would have done it?" He asked.

Alexx looked at him and furrowed her brow.

"How do you know that?" She questioned.

Ironhide rubbed his servo down his faceplates and looked at her.

"Will has told us about you and he has told us the story that Sarah Lennox told him" he replied.

The shifter sighed and shook her head, putting her chin back onto her knees and staring at his chest.

"It still makes no difference, he's not my biological father and I'm not his biological daughter. I'm just a spare part in the family" she said.

Ironhide shook his head and put his servos on his hip struts.

"And that makes no difference either Alexx, he loves you as if he were your mech creator. Why else would he have accepted you into his family?" He asked.

Alexx looked at him and shrugged.

"Because Sarah wasn't going to leave me outside in the cold" she stated.

Ironhide groaned and pinched his nasal ridge looking away from her. He was starting to lose his patience and decided that the truth was going to be better for her, whether she wanted to hear it or not. He looked up a few things, before he began to speak.

"Oh for the love of Primus...are your audio processing units failing?" He asked.

Alexx looked at him and shook her head.

"No wh-" she began.

Ironhide cut her off.

"Because you obviously cannot hear yourself. Stop blaming others for your fragging problems, so what you are not the same as William, Sarah and Annabelle Lennox, who gives a frag? Certainly not Will, he has raised you with the help of Sarah Lennox, as if you were his own and because you made a mistake by interfacing with a bonded male, you are doubting his care for you. Your problems are your own Alexx Lennox, others do not factor into them, they are yours and yours alone and you have to deal with them, blaming others will not make them go away. The fact that you are out here, wallowing in your self pity is annoying and it clearly shows that you are a coward. So you made a mistake, everybody makes them pit, even I have made some mistakes, but I did not allow them to rule me as you are doing, fragging get over it Alexx and get down there and deal with it. So Will may be angry with you, deal with it, it is your fault and you alone can make it right" he said.

Alexx just stared at him throughout his charade and when he was finished she just gave him a shocked and clearly upset look. She hadn't been expecting him to go off on one and hearing all that he said hurt her. However, it was clear that he wasn't finished when he took another breath.

"Femmes like you make me want to purge my tanks. You have a loving family, whether or not they are your biological family, but you...to use a human turn of phrase...throw it all back in their faces. Own up to your mistakes, ignoring them won't make them go away, it'll just make them worse, if you want to blame someone, then blame yourself" he finished.

Again, Alexx just looked at him, before she lowered her head and felt the sting of tears come to her eyes. She got up and climbed down the tree, hurrying into the base and finding a corner where she could release her emotions, sitting there and crying for a good ten minutes before she mentally reviewed what Ironhide had said, realising that he was right, she was blaming everyone for her problems except from the right person...herself. She composed herself and took a deep breath and walked out of the corner, heading over to where Will was.

"Will, can I talk to you?" She asked.

The man looked at her and nodded, dismissing the soldier he was talking to before turning towards his adopted daughter.

"What's up Alexx?" He questioned.

Alexx took a deep breath and began to tell him what had happened and by the end of it, she could see that Will wasn't very happy about what he'd heard.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Confusion made her brow furrow and she looked at him.

"You're not angry at me" she inquired.

Will raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be angry later, right now I wanna know if he hurt you" he replied.

Alexx shook her head and looked down and he nodded giving a bit of a sigh.

"Good" he said.

The shifter again furrowed her brow and looked up at him.

"That's it?" She asked.

Will shrugged and looked at her.

"You're old enough to make your own decisions Alexx, according to the handbook, by shifter standards, you're an adult now. If you make the wrong decisions, you have to deal with them on your own. I'm not always gonna be here to do it for you" he replied.

Again Alexx felt the sting of the truth settle in her chest and a lump rise in her throat. He was right, she was an adult by shifter standards and she would have to deal with her own mistakes.

"I'll deal with Sergeant Hollier, because he actively disobeyed a direct order" Will said.

Alexx nodded and then turned away, heading out of the base again and into the trees where she shifted and ran off. She needed time to herself, loads of things were running through her mind and if she stayed around the base, she knew that she'd end up hurting somebody. As she ran, everything became blurry, all of the colours blurred into one and a sharp pain ripped through her head, making her stop and yowl in pain. She shifted and the yowl turned into an agonised scream.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Will)**

After the conversation with Alexx, Will went to find Hollier, his calm façade hiding the storm brewing underneath. He looked everywhere the man might have been and even asked a few of the other soldiers where he was, most of them didn't know where he was, but one soldier told him that Hollier was in the shower stalls. Thanking the soldier, Will walked to the place Hollier was and stepped inside, waiting for the officer to finish showering and come out of the stall he was in. Hollier looked over at his boss and gave a bit of a smile.

"Hey boss, what's up?" He asked.

Keeping his calm façade, Will walked up to him and delivered a swift punch to his face, effectively breaking his nose and causing the man to yell out and bring his hand to his face, catching the blood that dripped out of his nose.

"If you _ever_ go near my daughter again, I will make sure that you and your wife can never have sex again. Do I make myself clear?" He asked.

The venom in his voice caused the man to look at him and narrow his eyes a little while he still held his hand to his nose. He nodded and Will growled, reaching up and grabbing the man's nose.

"I said, do I make myself clear?" He asked.

The man groaned and tried to follow Will's hand as he pulled his nose.

"Yessir" he said.

Will nodded and let the man's nose go, punching him in the gut and then walking out of the shower stalls and out of the base, deciding to go for a walk to clear his head, when he heard a pained yowl. He didn't really worry about it, until he heard the yowl turn into a scream, one that he instantly recognised. He ran into the base and saw Ironhide.

"Ironhide, get Ratchet ASAP!" He yelled.

The black mech turned to look at Will, to see that he'd already disappeared. Furrowing his optic ridges, he commed Ratchet and told him to get outside on the double, before he himself walked outside. Just in time to see Will come through the trees with a screaming and thrashing around Alexx in his arms. Ratchet came out of the base and as soon as he saw the state Alexx was in, he hurried to Will and put his servo down for the human. Will placed Alexx in Ratchet's hand and when the medimech stood up and walked towards the med bay, he followed.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked.

Ratchet didn't answer, instead he walked into the med bay and carefully lay Alexx on a berth, instantly scanning her.

"Ratchet?" Will asked.

The mech turned around to look at Will and furrowed his optic ridges.

"I am unsure William, physically she is fine, I will have to do an advanced scan of her cerebral cortex to find out if this is merely psychogenic" he replied.

Will didn't understand what Ratchet had just said, but he nodded anyway and the mech got straight to work.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Alexx's mind)**

The pain was unbearable, everything was fuzzy like on a television with no reception, that is until it cleared up and she found herself in a field with long grass surrounding her, but where she was stood was short grass. She looked around, hoping to find some clue as to where she was.

"Hello?" She called.

The only answer she got was the sound of her own voice echoed back to her. She continued to look around, this wasn't a normal place, there were no flies, or bees, or wasps, she couldn't see any butterflies or hear any birds singing, she couldn't smell anything and though the grass and trees around her were moving in the slight breeze, she couldn't feel anything. Where was she? She was about to call out again, when she heard a growl behind her. Whipping around, her eyes went wide as she saw a melanistic jaguar standing there.

"G-good kitty" she stammered.

The jaguar stopped growling and just looked at her before sitting down.

_"You do not recognise me?" _A voice asked.

Alexx looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but she found nothing.

"Who said that?" She called.

Her heart rate began to climb and her breathing began to speed up. The voice spoke again.

_"Over here you ditz" _it said.

She stopped looking and slowly turned towards the jaguar that was looking at her with what appeared to be amused eyes. Slowly, she walked up to the cat and knelt in front of it.

"Are you the one who's talking to me?" She asked.

To her surprise, the jaguar gave a nod and she shot back, falling onto her backside as she did.

"T-that's not possible" she accused.

The jaguar sneezed in a laugh, its eyes laughing too.

_"Relax, my name is Thera, I'm your shifter" _it said.

Alexx furrowed her brow, what she'd read about shifters didn't say anything about the person's shifter side having an entity of its own.

"_You're _my shifter? H-how is that possible?" She asked.

The jaguar walked towards her and as it did, it shifted into an exact copy of her and the replica sat down in front of her.

"Shifters are born as normal, either in human form or in their animal form, it's not until they reach adulthood and mate for the first time that the shifter side is awakened" she said.

Alexx stared at the other Alexx and slowly sat up straight.

"So you're saying that...shifters have bipolar?" She asked.

The other Alexx chuckled and gave a bit of a nod.

"In essence yes, but we're a part of you and no manner of treatment will make us go away. Until now, when you shifted into your feline form, it was still you" she replied.

Alexx raised an eyebrow and crossed her legs.

"And what, now when I shift I'll be you?" She asked.

The other Alexx shook her head.

"No not at all, most of the time you'll be able to keep me in check, only when you're feeling extreme emotions will I come out. Its kinda a self preservation thing. I'm your wild side" she explained.

Alexx furrowed her brow.

"So...let me get this straight, you're the Hulk to me Bruce Banner right?" She asked.

The other Alexx laughed but nodded.

"Essentially yes, but unlike Bruce Banner, you can control me with practice" she said.

Alexx was still confused.

"Why are you telling me this? If you're my wild side, shouldn't you be against being controlled?" She questioned.

Again the other Alexx chuckled.

"If we had met under different circumstances then yes, but first meetings aren't supposed to scare the other half. Plus, you have questions, I can answer them" she said.

Alexx was about to open her mouth and speak, when she felt an electrical shock in her chest.

"What the...?" She asked.

She felt the shock again and it caused her entire body to jerk.

"What's happening?" She asked.

The other Alexx looked to the side and growled.

"Somebody is trying to revive you with a defibrillator" she replied.

The shock was felt again and the other Alexx shifted into the jaguar and got up.

_"We will meet again, but for now, this is adieu" _she said.

She then ran off into the long grass and Alexx felt the shock again, the clearing around her started to melt away and everything went back to the staticy TV screen.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Normal)**

Ratchet shocked her once more and finally he registered a pulse and he cycled his intakes in relief. He looked down to Will who had been watching the entire thing with desperation in his eyes and he nodded.

"She's back" he said.

Will deflated with relief and looked up at the mech.

"What happened?" He asked.

Ratchet looked back to the shifter female on the table and then looked at Will.

"I would suggest asking her that when she wakes up" he replied.

Will furrowed his brow in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

Ratchet cycled his intakes and knelt down, offering his servo to the human male. Will climbed aboard and Ratchet got up, walking over to his desk where he sat down and placed Will onto the top of it.

"The human processor is active all of the time, processing different things, such as scents, sights, feelings and sounds. When humans recharge some of the sections of the processor will go into temporary stasis, to put it simply, it goes into the same state that a motor engine does when it idles" he said.

Will nodded, not entirely sure where this was going.

"What's the point of telling me this?" He asked.

Ratchet cycled his intakes in a minute amount of annoyance.

"Before Alexx went into cardiac arrest, her processor was extremely active, but when cardiac arrest occured, her processor shut down, except her Occipital Lobe, her Temporal Lobe, her Primary Auditory Lobe, her Wernicke's Area and her Broca's Area" he said.

Will just looked at him.

"In English please?" He asked.

Ratchet pinched his nasal ridge.

"The activity of these areas of her processor suggest that she was hearing voices and replying to said voices while being unconscious" he said.

Will furrowed his brow.

"Are you sure she wasn't just dreaming?" He questioned.

Ratchet looked at him.

"No, there was no Rapid Eye Movement and she was in cardiac arrest, I am pretty sure she was not entertaining vivid fantasies of which she would have while in a state of recharge. This was something different entirely" he replied.

Will looked at him and then looked over to Alexx.

"Is she gonna be alright?" He asked.

Ratchet cycled his intakes again.

"I am not sure William. As long as she does not go into a cardiac arrest again, she should recover quite fast, her superior healing ability has already healed the leisions on her spark caused by the cardiac arrest, but the cause of such a thing is still unknown" he answered.

Will nodded and looked at his adoptive daughter.

"I'd better tell Sarah" he said.

Ratchet nodded and offered his servo, which Will climbed upon and then the medical mech put him on the floor and watched him walk out of the med bay.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Alright, so by far the longest chapter I've written for this story, but I felt this was necessary. Now...my Beta has been able to get online, but only for a brief time as her internet has decided to give up the ghost, so once again I apologise if this chapter has any errors, or it doesn't make sense or it's not as good as the first few chapters. Hopefully my beta will be able to get back online soon and things will start to look better. On a higher note, I'm sp pleased that people are following this story and have favourited this story too, even if you don't review, to know that you like this story enough to follow or favourite it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. Thank you.**_

_**Anyway, yes a little bit of drama in this story and for reference, I looked up the parts of the brain that were being used, so I really hope I didn't get any medical terminology wrong, I'd be so embarrassed if I did, it would mean that watching medical programmes and doing research and watching House was a waste of time. So...I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter and don't forget to review.**_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 30 August 2014_

_Word Count: 4526_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 30 August 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 6 September 2014_


	8. Chapter 8

******__********_For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._**

**************Chapter 8**

**(A few days later)**

A few days had passed and Alexx hadn't woken up yet, though Ratchet was adamant that it wouldn't be long until she did so. He'd scanned and rescanned every inch of her body a total of five times and had repeatedly assured Will that she was physically healthy and her neural output was completely normal, much to the human's peace of mind. Sarah had arrived on base the day before yesterday, after Will had received authority to call her considering the situation and the man was surprised at how well his wife had taken to being surrounded by giant alien robots, he supposed that she was more worried about Alexx than she was about them. Right now Sarah was sat by Alexx's bedside, after the Shifter female had been moved to a human bed so that the family could be there for her, she had Alexx's hand in hers and was rubbing her thumb over the back of the appendage. She had left Annabelle at a friends for now, not wanting to put the infant through the stress of travelling and then the noise here too. A noise came from beside her and she looked over to see Will just coming back into the room after going to the bathroom.

"How is she?" He asked.

Sarah gave him a deadpanned look and then looked back at the girl laying on the bed, heart monitors beeping away, recording her beats per minute and the monitor on her head that was recording her brain waves.

"She's the same as she was when you left Will" she snapped.

Both had been snapping at the other since Sarah had arrived, because of the flight that Sarah had undergone as well as the fact that Will had been awake just sitting with Alexx until his wife had arrived,both were really tired and relying on coffee to keep them awake. Of course, Ratchet wasn't happy about the overuse of caffeine and had told them as much too. However, they hadn't listened and were still abusing the caffeinated beverages which was only part of the reason that they kept snapping. The next time one snapped at the other, Ratchet intervened, partly because he was worried about what repercussions of such verbal violence would affect Alexx, but it was also because he was getting fed up of listening to the two humans argue.

"Alright the both of you, get out of my med bay. You are both in serious need of recharge before one or both of you end up in emergency stasis and I am fed up of hearing your verbal violence towards one another. Either you both go to William's quarters or you stay here and recharge...quietly" he said.

Sarah looked up at the mech and was about to argue with him, but Will stopped her,saying that they'd be no use to Alexx if they were both so tired they were almost passing out from the sheer exhaustion.

"I will inform you the nanosecond Alexx regains consciousness" Ratchet said.

The blonde woman looked up at him again before sighing and nodding, getting up from the chair that she was sat on and following Will to his quarters. She knew that they were both worried sick about their adoptive daughter after what happened, what if it happened again ? Heck they didn't even know what had happened and every single one of Ratchet's scans had been inconclusive, he'd called it a medical phenomena, because he just couldn't seem to work out what had caused the pain in Alexx's head.

"It just doesn't make any sense Will, she's healthy and that robot medic said that her brain's functioning normally and doesn't have any tumours, so what caused her to collapse?" Sarah asked.

Will looked up at his wife from turning the bedsheets down and sighed.

"I don't know Sarah, it happened right after she...right after she had sex with Sergeant Hollier" he said.

A thoughtful gaze made its way across his face and he walked out of his quarters without another word, heading to the med bay again.

"Ratchet, she had sex for the first time just minutes before her collapse, could that be the reason why?" He asked.

The medic looked down at the human and snorted.

"William, human interfacing cannot cause cerebral pain and psychosis" he said.

The human raised an eyebrow.

"She's not a normal human Ratchet, she's a Shifter remember" he stated.

The mech growled at him and leaned heavily against his tool table in an effort to not lose his temper.

"Then I would suggest that you consult with this Shifter Handbook that you have been confabulating so much about as I do not have any answers for you. Until recently, I was unaware that Shifters existed, therefore I have no intimate knowledge of them or their physics" he said.

Will nodded and sighed, giving one last glance to his unconscious daughter before leaving the room and heading back to his quarters.

_**~Shifting** **Hearts~**_

**(Medbay)**

Ratchet was doing some routine maintenance on his tools when he heard Alexx's breathing change, signalling that she was waking up. Turning around, he activated his holoform and walked over to the bed, just in time to see her eyes open.

"You have regained consciousness I see. How are you feeling?" He asked.

His voice was exactly the same in this form as it was in his root form and Alexx looked up at him, licking her lips, swallowing and clearing her throat.

"What happened?" She asked back.

Ratchet narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't answer a question with a question, it will get us nowhere. Answer my question and then I shall answer yours" he chastised.

Alexx looked at him and rolled her eyes before closing them, she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

"I'm tired, I have a headache as big as your ass, my chest hurts, my crotch feels like I've had a cervical examination and I need to pee. There, are you happy?" She asked.

Ratchet rolled his eyes.

"Being happy is a matter of perspective but I assume you were inquiring as to whether your answer was remotely satisfactory, in which case the answer is of the affirmative. As for the other matters; your thorax will be experiencing some minor discomfort as you went into a cardiac arrest and I had to defibrillate your spark. Your genitalia is experiencing discomfort because prior to you experiencing a seizure you had sexual intercourse and your desire to urinate is a good sign. However, I am displeased with the thought of you engaging in any kind of locomotion in your current condition, so I shall promptly return with a bedpan" he said.

Alexx furrowed her brow at what he said and then just sighed, waiting for the medic to return. When he did, he proceeded to pull the sheets back and help her sit up.

"I trust you can manage to rid yourself of your waste liquids without any intervention on my part?" He asked.

Alexx looked at him and nodded and he disappeared, his root form turning back to his tools and arranging them in a specific order. The Shifter femme pulled her pants down and managed to position the bedpan where she needed it and started to relieve herself. Once she was done, she moved the bedpan away and got herself dressed again, calling to the mech.

"Done" she said.

The medic reactivated his holoform and came over to collect the bedpan, taking it into the human bathrooms and emptying it down the toilet before coming back out and putting the portable bed toilet into a vat of scalding hot water. He then returned and stood next to the bed. As he did so, Alexx got to have a good look at him and as he pulled a pen torch out of his top coat pocket and switched it on, she smirked.

"You're missing the cane" she said.

He gave her a funny look and held his finger up.

"What are you implying? Look at my servo extension" he said.

Alexx looked at his finger as he shone the light in her eyes, checking her pupil response times.

"I'm assuming that you based your holoform off of the main named character of House M.D, who is of course played by Hugh Laurie" she explained.

Ratchet pulled away and started doing other tests.

"What provoked your reasoning?" He questioned.

Alexx looked at him.

"Oh nothing, apart from the fact that your holoform bears an uncanny resemblance to said character" she replied.

Ratchet glanced at her as she said this, but said nothing more.

"Your reaction rates appear to be perfectly normal. You mentioned that you were experiencing discomfort in your cerebellum" he stated.

Alexx nodded carefully and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, what happened?" She asked.

The mech glanced at the monitor recording her brain waves and cycled his intakes.

"You experienced some form of seizure, during which your neural output was...off the chart...as your human doctors phrase it. Certain parts of your cerebral cortex were active during this seizure, parts that from what I can ascertain are not ordinarily active during such an experience. I was rather hoping that you could explain your experience" he replied.

Alexx looked at him and tried to think about what had happened, it hurt a little and the monitor started beeping, with her brain waves going everywhere. But then the beeping stopped and the brain waves went back to normal.

"I was in a field, I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't see anything but grass and trees and I couldn't feel anything. But, then there was a panther there and it looked just like my panther form and it spoke to me. Told me that she was my Shifter and that she appeared because I..." She began.

Ratchet raised his eyebrows.

"Go on" he urged.

Alexx looked at him.

"She was there because I had sex. She told me that I had questions and she could answer them" she finished.

This time the medic furrowed his brow and shook his helm.

"I suspect that this was merely your processor attempting to justify what was occurring. I wouldn't agonise over it" he reasoned.

Alexx nodded and then sighed, leaning back against the bed, before she looked at him.

"Hey, how come you aren't affected by me bing in heat?" She accused.

Ratchet deactivated his holoform and continued to arrange his tools.

"Your oestrus cycle affected us all Alexx, however, I believe you will find that I had matters that held dire importance over the urge to interface with you" he replied.

Alexx nodded and then sighed again.

"What a big cock up this turned out to be" she muttered.

Ratchet glanced at her.

"What prompted you to postulate that notion?" He asked.

She looked at him.

"Well first I come into heat for the first time, which is worse than all my other menstrual cycles and I have three giant, alien robotic organisms lusting over me because of it, then I have sex with some guy and regret it afterwards and get chewed out by Ironhide 'cause of it, then I have a seizure and end up here" she said.

Ratchet snorted.

"I will concur that your sojourn here has been consequential to say the least, but I would not call it a...cock up" he rationalised.

Alexx snorted.

"Seems like it to me. With the people who are after me..." She began.

Ratchet growled.

"Those who are predating you shall have to go through myself, Ironhide and Optimus to get to you. Furthermore, they shall have to pass William too" he interjected.

The female shifter just looked up at the mech and gave a bit of a chuckle.

"I guess I'm well protected with three giant alien robotic organisms and an adoptive father who can become trigger happy if anyone harms his precious daughters" she said.

Ratchet nodded.

"And as for what you told Ironhide about William, I believe what he has been doing for the past two lunar and solar cycles has made it positively clear that you are not 'in the way' as you put it" he said.

Alexx looked at him, but when he didn't say anything, she just sighed.

"I guess you're right, I was wallowing in self pity because I regretted what I'd done, I shouldn't've taken it out on Will, Sarah or Ironhide" she said.

Ratchet didn't say a word, he just continued to clean every tool he had on the table, picking it up from its designated spot, cleaning it and putting it back again. He had informed Will and Sarah that Alexx had woken up, but he had told them that they should rest some more, that the Shifter femme could deal without them for a few more hours.

"Yes" he said.

Alexx gave him a strange look and he looked at her, his face so serious that she wondered if he actually _could_express emotions.

"Wha'?" She asked.

The mech turned away from his tool table and looked right at her.

"In response to your earlier assumption of my holographic form, yes I did base the appearance off of the title character of the medical Satellite Television Show _House M.D_. Just as Ironhide based his holoform off of a character in the action movie celebrity Dolph Lundgren and Optimus based his holoform on a celebrity named Pierce Brosnan" he said.

Alexx smiled and nodded.

"Well...House is quite good looking and...well...its a good match. If your holoform looked like Carlisle Cullen from Twilight I would've told you that it didn't suit you" she said.

Ratchet rolled his optics.

"I am glad that you approve, now in order for you to fully recover, you must enter recharge" he said.

The Shifter femme smiled and nodded, laying down and closing her eyes. Ratchet looked down at her and allowed a small smile to grace his lip plating. He wouldn't let on to anyone, but the female had grown on him like a rust, though he found himself rather enjoying that fact and he was sure that the other two felt the same way.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**_A/N: And here's the 8th chapter. I wanted to put a little more interaction between Alexx and Ratchet in here and it was also a chance to reveal to you what or rather who Ratchet's holoform looks like. Yep...it's Doctor House, the best diagnostician in Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Mostly because I think that House's personality and Ratchet's personality are a match. I also think that Dolph Lundgren's image fits Ironhide, because of how tough he is, I wouldn't want to give Chuck Norris's image to Ironhide, doesn't really fit him and Pierce Brosnan fits Optimus. Of course when Jazz comes back into the picture you'll find out who's image his holoform takes. Anyway, I really hope I have Ratchet in character for this, he strikes me as a mech who would use long and huge words for such simple things, words that just make you stop and go..."huh?" But still..._**

**_A big thank you to all who have read, are reading and probably will read this story and to those who have reviewed, don't think it's finished yet, we've only just begun. I will admit, I was expecting a few more reviews than what I have got, so I'll just assume that if you don't review then you don't have anything nice to say, or you just don't like the story. Anyway; I think this is the longest time I've had a character go or rather I've had a story go without the main character having intercourse or being in a romantic relationship with the character(s) they're paired with. This is because I don't want to rush into things here, I don't want to drag it out too long or make it too fast, I want it to be just right._****_  
_**

**_Anywho..._**

**_Thank you for reading and enjoy._**

**_Vampyrex1_**

_Date Written: 03 September 2014_

_Word Count: 2787_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 06 September 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 13 September 2014_


	9. Chapter 9

_**For** **Disclaimer,** **warnings,** **rating,** **pairings,** **summary** **and** **legend,** **please** **refer** **to** **chapter 1.**  
_

**Chapter 9**

**(A ****week later)**

A week had passed and thankfully after Alexx had slept for a little longer, Ratchet had seen fit to discharge her from the medbay, with strict orders to remain on base where he was easily accessible should she have another seizure. He was doubtful that she would, but Will had asked him to keep an eye on her for a while, to make sure that she didn't have another one. Sarah had gone home after the medic had cleared the Shifter, saying that she needed to get home for Annabelle. She wasn't happy about leaving Alexx at the base, especially not after the reality of giant alien robots set in and she just about had a mental breakdown, but when Will explained that Ratchet was probably the only doctor who would actually want to treat Alexx, let alone be able to, she reluctantly agreed and went home. Also during the week, Ratchet had managed to repair Jazz's chassis and had found enough charge to reignite the saboteur's spark bringing him back, much to the joy and the relief of the other mechs. Though they'd heard of one another from the other mechs and humans, Jazz and Alexx had yet to meet and Will was a little apprehensive about them doing so.

"Jazz is a little uh...eccentric, but he's one of the good guys and he won't hurt you" he said.

Alexx smiled at him and nodded. She'd got used to the mechs walking around in both their holoforms and their root forms and could easily distinguish one from the other via their human holos. But with this new mech, she knew that she was gonna be wary of him and she was aware that he was an Autobot, having heard from Ironhide about what the silver mech was like and even he'd assured her that the mech wouldn't hurt her. She sighed and looked at Will, smiling and hugging him.

"I'll try not to be too aggressive towards him, but I'm not making any promises" she warned.

Will smiled and hugged her back before pulling away and glancing over to where Sergeant Hollier was just coming back onto the base after a few days off with his broken nose and bruised ribs. The glare that passed between them was chilling and Alexx found a shiver working its way up her spine.

"I'm gonna go to the rec room, I spied a PlayStation in there earlier and I think I saw Burnout 2: Point of Impact. Never played it, but I wanna go try, see how well I do" she said.

She turned and walked towards the rec room, passing Optimus on the way and tapping the grille on the front.

"Hey big guy" she said.

The mech rumbled in greeting and she walked off, going into the rec room and going right over to the PlayStation. After a bit of fumbling, she managed to find out how to turn it on and quickly worked out the controls, starting to play the game that she wanted to. For a few laps, she kept crashing the car she was driving, but once she got the hang of driving, she was able to get around the track without crashing...not into other vehicles anyway. She was so interested and engrossed in the game that she didn't hear anyone else come into the rec room until he spoke.

"Primus, if ya drive like that in real life, de other humans better watch out" he said.

_**~Shifting** **Hearts~**_

**(Jazz)**

Being revived after what happened in Mission City was a strange experience for him. The last thing he remembered was facing down Megatron and the Decepticon leader shooting him and then picking him up and taking him to the top of a building, then nothing...until now. Ratchet had explained that Sam had shoved the Allspark into Megatron's spark chamber and killed him and the humans had accepted them on their planet. Jazz was glad that Megatron was out of the picture and pleasantly surprised that the humans had allowed them to take up refuge on this planet, at least he'd have time to fully recover from the revival experience. He'd also been informed that there was a Shifter amongst them and that she was very exuberant, not to mention feisty. Of course hearing about this Shifter piqued the Saboteur's interest and he decided that he'd have to find this out for himself. So once Ratchet had discharged him from the medbay with orders for light duties only, he had immediately made himself known to the humans, but particularly Will, asking all kinds of questions about Alexx and really listening to the answers the human gave.

"So where's she at?" He asked.

Will pointed to the rec room and Jazz nodded, walking over there and transforming. He activated his holoform and decided...once he saw what it looked like in his rear view mirror, that he'd customise it a little. He changed the colour of his holoform's skin, making it a kind of caramel colour and instead of his holo having short, blonde hair...he gave himself long, black dreadlocks that were tied in a ponytail. Then he went about sorting out the jawline, making it a little sharp and defined. He didn't want it to be too sharp, otherwise he wouldn't fit in, but he didn't want it to be too round either so he picked the right amount of sharpness and nodded. His cheekbones were defined and masculine too in all, he looked handsome...if he did say so himself. Next on the agenda was the clothing, they way he was currently dressed didn't appease him one bit so he chose a tight fitting black vest top and dark grey baggy sweat pants, with grey sneakers. Now happy with the way his holo looked, he made a show of getting out of the muscle car and walking over to the door, turning the handle and walking in.

He'd expected the occupant to notice his arrival and was a little confused when she didn't, it was only when he looked to the large screen mounted on the wall that he saw the reason for her lack of awareness. The game she was playing appeared to be a driving or racing game or sorts and he was shocked at the way she was controlling the car. Every corner she drove the car around, she hit the barrier that was...he guessed...supposed to stop the car from going onto the verge. His mouth dropped open when at one point, she drove around a corner so fast and hit a barrier so hard that she rolled the virtual vehicle. That was when he thought that he'd better make himself known.

"Primus, if ya drive like that in real life, de other humans better watch out" he said.

As expected, as soon as he spoke...the game was paused and the femme was on her feet and facing him in a defensive crouch. Seeing that he'd scared her, he raised his hands palms facing towards her in a surrendering pose and a sheepish smile found its way onto his face.

"Sorreh, din't mean ta scare ya" he said.

As she crouched there, he took the time to look her over, she was lithe in body, not overly muscled, but toned enough to tell him that she must work out to keep it like that and she had...what he guessed to be a medium stature. Her short black hair was spiky and he vaguely wondered if she styled it like that or if it was the way it fell naturally. Her skin...where it wasn't pale like some of the humans he'd seen around base, it wasn't as dark as Sergeant Epps' skin either. Her skin tone was more...a quick search revealed the word...tanned. Her eyes were a rich hazel colour and the way they kept flicking from their normal colour to a golden brown colour had him mesmerised.

Tearing his optics away from hers, he took the chance to look over what she was wearing, it seemed to be practically the same as what his holoform was wearing, only the tank top was less tight and she had black pumps on instead. Bringing his optics back up to her hazel ones he smiled a little.

"Can I put me arms down now? They're gettin' tired" he said.

He watched her as she took in his form, her eyes landing on the Autobot insignia on his dog tags before she relaxed enough for him to put his arms down by his sides. He continued to watch her as she watched him, before he decided to make the first move. Stepping forward slowly, he did what he'd seen other humans do when greeting one another...he held out his hand.

"Name's Jazz lil lady, an' you must be Alexx" he said.

He expected her to tense up at hearing her name flowing from his lips when she hadn't given it, but instead she seemed to relax more and her lips curled into a smile as she took his hand and shook it.

"Yeah, nice to meet you...finally" she uttered.

Jazz smiled and shook her hand too before removing the appendage when she let it go and he let it drop down to his side again. He noticed the awkward silence that they were slipping into and to avoid such a position, he motioned to the television screen.

"What ya playin'?" He asked.

Turning around, Alexx looked at the screen and then looked back at him.

"Uh...Burnout 2: Point of Impact...but I'm not very good, as you saw" she replied.

Jazz chuckled and waved her off.

"All ya need is some practice" he said.

Alexx chuckled and nodded, before dropping to her knees and picking up the other controller, offering it to him.

"You wanna join?" She asked.

Weighing up his options, Jazz smiled again and took the offered controller, bringing himself to a sitting position alongside her and watching as she changed the setting to two player mode and they started to race. With Jazz being the perfect driver and Alexx crashing into every barrier on a corner. Jazz chuckled and as he'd already finished the race, he gave her a few pointers.

"When ya go 'round a corner at speed, ya wanna press on de break an' den the gas an' ya wanna turn into de slide...ya won't as many barriers an' ya won' lose no speed" he said.

Alexx smiled at him and thanked him as they went to race again, with the shifter incorporating what Jazz had told her and having a much smoother run.

_**~Shifting** **Hearts~**_

**(A f****ew hours later/Alexx)**

After a couple of games with Jazz, the mech had declared that he needed to get some rest, otherwise Ratchet or 'The Hatchet' as he called him, would tell him off, which the mech had also said in words that Alexx only just understood. While the silver mech was resting, Alexx decided to go into the medbay to talk to Ratchet, who was messing around with a mechanical hand at his desk.

"Uh...you wanted to do a few...experiments...with me. Well I have time now if you'd like to" she said.

The mech looked down at her and his lip plates formed a thin line.

"They are not _experiments,_ I would never use humans as test subjects. But as you are willing to engage in the tests I wish to perform I cannot deny your offer. You are aware of what I wish to take note of yes?" He asked.

Shaking her head, the shifter femme walked over to him as he placed his hand on the floor for her to climb upon. She jumped onto his hand and he stood, walking over to a large berth.

"I wish to take scans of how the stress of shifting affects your body. Being unaware of Shifters prior to your appearance, I must say I am curious as to your abilities. Would you consent to further tests?" He questioned.

Thinking about it, the Shifter femme looked up at him and shrugged.

"I don't see why not, they're not gonna hurt me are they?" She inquired.

The medic got a horrified look on his face and he quickly shook his helm.

"What in the name of Primus would give you _that_ absurd approximation?" He asked.

Alexx shrugged and smirked.

"Just making sure" she replied.

Shaking his head, Ratchet huffed a little before allowing her to step off of his hand and onto the berth.

"You have been around Jazz for too long already" he surmised.

Alexx chuckled and sat on the berth.

"It's only been three hours" she said.

Ratchet looked at her, a sly smirk on his faceplates.

"Three joors with that mech is too long even by my standards. The mech is far too exuberant" he stated.

Alexx laughed and shook her head.

"Yet you revived him anyway" she teased.

The medic gave her a sour look.

"It was revive him or make him into repair drones. Personally I rather like the idea of having Jazz more than I like the idea of faulty repair drones" he said.

Alexx just chuckled.

"You're a strange mech Ratchet" she said.

The mech raised an optic ridge and snorted.

"Dear girl you have not even _seen_ strange" he said.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N:**_ _**Okay,** **first,**_ _**I'd**_ **_like to apologise for not_ _getting this chapter_** _**up**_ **_sooner, I had a small tiffle with writers block that I only just managed to overcome so I could write this chapter. Secondly, I'd like to apologise if this chapter doesn't really make any sense, my beta's computer has given up the ghost and she can't access docX to read over my chapters, so please don't hate me. On a lighter note, I brought Jazz back! Yay! And I couldn't find any celebrity who reminded me of Jazz, so I just gave him a simple holoform that I made up myself. And I hope that I had him in character as much as possible, if not then I apologise._**

**_Anyway...I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you to all who have reviewed and favourited and all who are following this story, I hope you're enjoying it to. Oh and before I forget, there is a poll on my profile, if you'd be kind enough to complete it I'd be grateful. The option with the most votes will be put in the chapter after next._**

**_Thank you for reading and enjoy._**

**_Vampyrex1_**

_Date Written: 13 September 2014_

_Word Count: 2534_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 13 September 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 20 September 2014_


	10. Chapter 10

_**For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1.**_

**Chapter 10**

**(A few months later)**

A few months had gone by and Alexx had become good friends with Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet and Will had noticed that she had become closer to them than she was to any of the humans and it was worrying him. He wouldn't mind if Alexx was getting close to one of the single humans, that would be normal considering she was a sexually mature Shifter now, but instead he found her getting close to the four Autobots in a way she should be doing to another human or another Shifter. He desperately hoped that the mechs hadn't noticed her change in behaviour around them, but if they had then they weren't saying anything about it, whether that was because they respected her enough not to embarrass her or because they really hadn't noticed, he didn't know but he was happy about it. During the last week he'd been keeping a close eye on her and finally he decided to confront her about why she was getting close to Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet.

"I dunno Will, I just feel a strange...almost magnetic pull towards them...all of them" she said.

Will didn't know what to say to that, he was confused as to how she could feel a magnetic pull towards four alien robots and if he was honest, he wasn't happy about it but what could he do? It wasn't like he could stop her from seeing them, she practically lived at the base and they were always around. Vaguely he wondered if they felt the same about her and if they did then he would need to do something about _that_. It was one thing to have your adopted daughter develop a crush on four giant alien robots, but for said four giant alien robots to like her in the same way, it angered him just thinking about it. He found himself giving them dirty looks before he corrected himself and shook it off, there was no use giving the mechs dirty looks if they didn't feel the same for Alexx. Thankfully though, he had other things to take his mind off of what his adoptive daughter was going through, like the fact that seven new Autobots had landed a week ago and General Morshower had informed him that his idea for the Non-Biological Extra-terrestrial Species Treaty had been accepted and as a result they were to be moved to a bigger base in Diego Garcia, so Will had his mind on getting everything packed up and moved to the new base.

While all this was happening though, Alexx had gone outside the base and had bumped into the one human man apart from Robert Epps, who didn't take any interest in her when she was openly flirting with all the men. Richard Matheson. A smile worked its way onto her lips and she walked over to him, standing next to him as he smoked a cigarette.

"How're ya doin' Alexx?" He asked.

The Shifter femme smiled and nodded, before leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes. It was nice to be near a guy who didn't leech over her all the time, she knew it was because he didn't have any interest in her in that way, because he wasn't that way inclined. She looked over at him and then smiled.

"You said the other week, that you have a friend who knows a lot about Shifters" she said.

Richard nodded and then looked over at her, blowing the smoke out away from her before turning towards her and stubbing the cigarette out.

"Yeah, his name's Thomas and he's one of the ancestors of the Thomas who petitioned to give Shifters equal rights among men" he said.

Alexx looked at him and smiled. If he was one of the ancestors of the legend among Shifters, then she could trust him too. Richard smiled to himself and then looked around.

"If you want, I can take you to his clinic now, I have a few hours off anyway" he said.

The Shifter femme nodded and beamed at him, finally she would have a chance to really know about Shifters and not read about it from some Shifter handbook that her birth parents had given her adoptive parents...maybe finally she would be able to understand why she felt such a pull towards Optimus, Ironhide, Jazz and Ratchet.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(A few hours later)**

Finally Alexx and Richard made it to the clinic where the latter's friend Thomas worked and Richard stopped the truck, turning the ignition off.

"Want me to come with or...?" He asked.

Alexx looked at him and shook her head smiling.

"No, I think I can handle this myself. Thomas Moore right?" She asked.

Richard nodded and watched as Alexx took a deep breath before getting out of the truck and walking into the clinic. She was surprised to see that there was no-one else there, so she walked straight up to the desk and the woman looked up at her.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Alexx smiled kindly and fidgeted a little.

"Uh...I'm here to see a Thomas Moore" she replied.

The woman's eyes opened wide and she stood up, taking her glasses off and her mouth dropped open.

"By the stars, you look just like your mother" she said.

The Shifter femme furrowed her brow and took a step back from the older woman, who seemed to calm down and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry love it's just that...I knew your mother, when she was pregnant with you" she confessed.

The confession made Alexx's eyes open wide and she stepped closer to the old woman, who's ice blue eyes seemed to roam over her body.

"She was a wonderful young woman, always helping out here as best she could, of course after she met that stunning Dale Pro, well..." She said.

Alexx raised an eyebrow.

"Well what?" She asked.

The older woman just gave a tight smile.

"They were in love, you can't deny that...but that Dale Pro, he was a trouble maker and when your mother announced that she was pregnant, none of us thought Dale Pro would stay with her. After all, it's unusual for a Leopard and a Jaguar to be together in such a way, but they pulled it off and dare I say that hearing the news of your mothers pregnancy calmed him down somewhat" she replied.

Alexx smiled slightly and then the clearing of a throat was heard behind the older woman and she turned around to see Thomas Moore stood there.

"Ah Mister Moore...this is Alexx, she's the daughter of Jackie and Dale Pro" she said.

Thomas smiled and nodded, holding his hand out for Alexx to take.

"A pleasure to meet you Alexx. I'm sure you have questions" he stated.

Alexx nodded and Thomas showed her to his office, before looking at the older woman.

"Mrs Reade, if you'd be so kind as to clear my schedule for the new few hours I would be grateful" he said.

The old woman nodded and got up, turning the open sign to closed and locking the doors, she then sat back down at her computer and smiled. It was nice to see that Jacqueline's daughter had survived the raid by the ASTS and what a fine young woman she'd grown up to be.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Thomas and Alexx)**

As soon as they got into the office, Thomas closed the door and motioned for the Shifter femme to take a seat, which she did. He then sat down in front of her.

"I expect you're very confused and want to know anything and everything about your kind. Especially seeing as you're an Alpha" he said.

Alexx's brow furrowed at this and Thomas held up a hand with a smile.

"First let's have the first question that's on your mind" he said.

Alexx raised an eyebrow at him.

"Which one?" She asked.

Thomas leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together.

"The question that's been swirling around your mind since Mrs. Reade mentioned your parents" he replied.

Alexx frowned at this and she looked at him.

"Are you a Shifter?" She asked.

Thomas shook his head and sat up chuckling.

"Me? Oh no, no...heavens no. But Mrs. Reade is. In fact she's one of the only surviving elders of the feline Shifter clan" he said.

Another frown wrinkled Alexx's forehead.

"Clans?" She questioned.

Thomas resumed the pose he had taken up earlier.

"Some will refer to them as families, others as clans. You have the feline clan, the canine clan, the avian clan, the bear clan...you get where I'm going with this?" He asked.

Alexx nodded and then smiled.

"What's an Alpha?" She asked.

Thomas smirked a little.

"An Alpha is a Shifter with the ability to Shift into any member of their specific family within a specific clan. For example, you're the Alpha of the _Panthera _family so you can Shift into any member of that family" he said.

Alexx nodded and then Thomas continued.

"Alphas are generally perceived as royalty within their clans and because of their unique ability to shift into any animal of a specific family, this means they can breed with other members of the family. Alphas are often characterised as having a big build and by big I don't mean fat, I mean toned. And if one were to do a scan of an Alpha Shifter, they would see a little sac that is located beside the gall bladder" he said.

Alexx frowned again.

"What's that do?" She asked.

Thomas smirked more.

"Its a poison sac. Its completely harmless to Alpha Shifters but can and will be fatal to a human or a normal Shifter. The poison is an acidic compound that if used correctly, or in some cases incorrectly, will cause irrepairable damage to the veins and arteries of the victim, promoting a slow and very painful death. The poison sac is connected to a long tube that goes up alongside the oesophagus and will exit through the mouth, it can be smeared onto a blade or just used as acidic spit" he explained.

Alexx nodded and then told him the other thing that was on her mind.

"I'm having strange feelings for four of my friends. Its like they're magnets and I'm a paperclip or something. I'm drawn to them whenever they're near and can't stop thinking about them" she said.

Thomas smiled and took a hold of her hands, making her look at him.

"Alpha Shifters can take up to ten mates. Mrs. Reade has seen it before, a female Alpha Shifter with ten males around her at any one time. This feeling of magnetism is completely normal, in fact its a good sign, because it means your Shifter has chosen her mates" he said.

Alexx's eyes opened wide at the thought of Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet being her mates, how was it possible? She shook her head and then swallowed.

"What'll happen if I don't accept them as my mates?" She asked.

Thomas licked his lips.

"Well that would depend on whether they have accepted you as their mates or not. If they have, then they will feel immense pain in their chest, like a broken heart and they will become depressed until you accept them, this is also vice versa" he replied.

Alexx nodded and then she smiled, beginning to ask him other questions and getting the answers she desired. When she left the clinic she not only had more knowledge of Shifters in general, but thanks to Mrs. Reade, she had more knowledge of her parents too. The elder Shifter had given her a photo of her parents and also a video that they had made for her, when Jackie was first pregnant with her. She got into the truck, where Richard was just waking up from a nap.

"So...did you get your answers?" He asked.

He then yawned as Alexx nodded and hugged him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Yes...thank you so much Richard" she said.

Richard smiled and nodded, wiping his eyes and putting his seatbelt on. He had noticed the picture and DVD in her hands, but didn't ask about it, thinking that it may be confidential. Starting the engine, he waited for her to put her seatbelt on before heading back towards the base.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(A few hours later/Will)**

Will was frantic, he hadn't seen Alexx for nearly three hours and he was beginning to worry. Usually, she would be in the rec room dancing and playing video games, or she'd be in the mess hall stuffing her face with sugar filled deserts or she'd be in her room sleeping. Will had checked all of these spots and had even asked Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet if they had seen her, but they hadn't. It wasn't until he saw a truck coming towards the base with Alexx and Private Matheson in the front seats that he stopped looking.

Storming up to the truck, he threw the door open and fixed Alexx with a steely glare.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

He waited for an answer and was surprised to see that Alexx seemed unfazed by his anger and instead handed him a photo. Taking it, Will looked it over before he looked back at Alexx, then he looked back at the picture again.

"Is this your...?" He asked.

Alexx nodded with tears in her eyes.

"My mom and dad" she said.

Will looked at her and as soon as she had the seatbelt off, he had her in his arms in seconds.

"Where'd you get this?" He asked.

Alexx told him about Richard's friend who knew a lot about Shifters and she even told him about Mrs. Reade the elder Shifter, of course she left out the part about Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet being her mates, she needed to tell them before she told Will. After all was said and done, Will sent Alexx on her way and looked at Richard.

"That was a good thing you did today Soldier" he said.

Richard nodded and Will smiled at him.

"Thank you" he said.

The man smiled and once again nodded before driving onto the base, with Will following him on foot.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Two hours later/Alexx)**

Alexx had watched the DVD that Mrs. Reade had given her and as a result she had gone through a whole box of tissues, but at least she now knew what her parents sounded like and how much they loved her. After the DVD finished, Alexx made herself more presentable and decided that she needed to tell the mechs that they were her mates. Even if they didn't accept the fact, she wanted them to know. It was just lucky that the first place she went to...the medbay...had all four mechs in it.

"Guys, I need to talk to you" she said.

She went about explaining where she had been and what she had been told, telling them exactly what Thomas had told her, including the bit about the pain.

"I understand that it's a lot to take in, and if you don't want to accept, I'll be happy to just have you as friends" she said.

The mechs looked at one another, they had been speaking about this before Alexx had come into the medbay, each of them felt the telltale pull of a mate when she was near them, but they had to take into effect exactly what bonding with her would do to her. Ratchet had said that it would be too risky to bond with her, all of them and that such exposure to their spark tendrils could kill her, but they also knew that they would all feel the pain of being cut off from their mate, however...it was a price they were willing to pay to keep her alive.

"Are you certain Alexx?" Ratchet asked.

The Shifter femme nodded and smiled, before turning and walking out of the medbay, tears running down her face.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: And here's the 10th chapter. I wanted to at least give you a little bit of insight about Shifters and also revealed an interesting fact about Alexx...she's an Alpha Shifter. Anyway...I didn't want the mechs to accept to being her mate right away, that would just be corny and that's not what I'm going for here. So...as I said in the last chapter, I have a poll on my profile and I'd really like it if you could complete it so I can work out who's gonna be the winner. So far it's Ratchet, but I'd like to know what you think.**_

_**Anywho...took me a while to come up with this chapter, I was writing down all manner of ways this could go and finally decided on this way and I really hope you enjoy reading it. Yes...Thomas Moore is a name I used in one of the introductions for this story, but no...he's not the same Thomas More...this Thomas Moore is the great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of the original Thomas Moore, and he learned all he knows about Shifters not only from the knowledge being passed down from generation to generation, but also from Mrs. Reade, who will have a bigger part in later chapters. Anyway...**_

_**Thanks for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 18 September 2014_

_Word Count: 3049_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 20 September 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 27 September 2014_


	11. Chapter 11

_**For** **Disclaimer,** **warnings,** **rating,** **pairings,** **summary** **and** **legend,** **please** **refer** **to** **chapter** **1**_.

**Just a quick warning: There is a Lemon in this chapter, it's right at the end so...gives you time to prepare.**

**Chapter** **11**

**(Three weeks later)**

Three weeks had gone by and the move from the Hoover Dam base wasn't going as smoothly as it should've been, it was taking General Morshower a bit of time to formally acquire the large hanger in Diego Garcia and with everything already packed and ready to go, it was a matter of waiting until they were given the go ahead. On top of the stress of moving, Will had noticed that Alexx had gone missing, he'd checked all of her usual haunts and she wasn't in either of them, he'd even phoned Sarah to see if the Shifter femme had somehow made her way home, but that was a dead end too. It wasn't unlike the short haired Shifter to disappear for a few days, but it had been almost a week since her disappearance and Will was worried. He'd tried asking the mechs if they'd seen her, but he got the same result, a no. The only mechs who seemed truly concerned about her disappearance were Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet, who had all joined in the search for her, but to no avail. In the end, Will cornered Private Richard Matheson.

"I need you to take me where you took Alexx" he said.

Richard looked at him strangely before shaking his head.

"I can't do that, they're not too keen on outsiders, especially if said outsiders are in army gear" he stated.

Will glared at the man and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him a little as he spoke.

"Listen, Alexx's gone missing, if there's anyone who can tell me where she might've gone, its the people you took her to see three weeks ago. Please" he begged.

Sighing, Richard rolled his eyes and nodded, Will nodded too and called for Ironhide, who transformed and rolled out to them. Both Richard and Will got in and the former pointed the way to the clinic he'd taken Alexx to, directing the mech down this street and that until they reached the place. The men got out and Ironhide activated his scanners, checking for any Decepticon activity while the two army officers walked into the clinic. As soon as they got in there, Mrs. Reade was on alert, but when she saw Richard, she calmed down a little.

"Richard, what're you doing here, and who's your friend?" She asked.

The man sighed and began to explain to Mrs. Reade what had happened, causing the female to gasp and put her hands to her mouth.

"Why didn't you come sooner you stupid boy. Thomas!" She called.

The man hurried out of the room while he was putting his coat on. Mrs. Reade went to explain, but he held up his hand and shook his head.

"I heard everything. Close the clinic Mrs. Reade, we have a Shifter to find before the ASTS find her" he said.

Mrs. Reade did what she was told and all four of them climbed into Ironhide, with Mrs. Reade and Richard in he back and Thomas and Will in the front.

"What did you guys talk about when you met?" Will asked.

Thomas made a face and sighed.

"I'm not really supposed to say. Shifters come to the clinic for confidentiality, it's a place here Shifters are safe and can talk about things that they couldn't in normal situations, its also a Shifter medical clinic too" he explained.

Will looked over at Thomas who sighed again.

"We talked about things related to Shifters, I told her that she's an Alpha Shifter and explained what one is and she told me that she was feeling a magnetic pull towards four men back home as she called it. We spoke about what would happen if those four men accepted her and she didn't accept them or vice versa" he said.

This made Will raise an eyebrow.

"And what will happen?" He asked.

Thomas looked at him and frowned.

"If they accept her but she doesn't accept them, they will become depressed and become reclusive, not eating, hardly drinking. If it goes on for longer than a week, there's a chance of them getting seriously ill. But if she accepts them and they don't accept her, the effects are much worse, illness takes hold faster and could potentially kill her" he said.

Suddenly the truck stopped dead, making all passengers rock forwards so much that if it weren't for the seatbelts, the two in the front would be through the windshield and probably dead. Thomas looked around and then looked at Will.

"Why did you stop?" He asked.

Will struggled for words, but it turned out he didn't need to answer because Mrs. Reade answered for him.

"He didn't" she said.

Thomas, Will and Richard looked at her and she calmly looked at Thomas, who looked puzzled.

"What?" He asked.

Mrs. Reade smiled slightly and looked at the dashboard of the truck.

"He didn't stop the truck" she replied.

Thomas made a disbelieving sound and motioned around.

"Then who did?" He questioned.

Mrs. Reade continued to look at the dashboard that she could see.

"The truck stopped the truck...you're one of Alexx's mates aren't you?" She asked.

The truck rumbled before static burst through the radio.

_**"Yes"** _came the reply.

Thomas stared in shock at the radio, blinking a couple of times before he looked at Will who looked serious.

"You _cannot _tell _anyone _about this Mr. Moore" he said.

The man just squeaked a little and nodded, before Mrs. Reade began to speak again.

"Were you aware that she could die if you don't accept her?" She asked.

Yet again the truck rumbled.

_**"I wasn't aware, she didn't inform us that refusal could cause her to offline"** _he said.

Mrs. Reade nodded and smiled sadly.

"She probably didn't want you to feel like you had to accept. But now I'm afraid you and the three others have no choice, unless you wish to lose her for good" she stated.

The truck revved its engine and Mrs. Reade took that as a no. She smiled and patted the seat.

"We have a way to go. But before I tell you the way...are you willing to accept her as a mate?" She inquired.

A loud rumble sounded from the truck.

_**"Yes. If accepting her as a mate is the only way to keep her online, then that is what I will do. The others would agree"** _he answered.

Mrs. Reade nodded and directed them down one street, up another, down another until they were way out of the city and heading into desert.

"Once we get there, let me do all the talking. The tribe are reluctant to welcome anyone outside of their own and the Shifter community" she said.

Will looked at her in the rear view mirror.

"Why?" He asked.

Mrs. Reade looked at him and quirked her lips a little.

"The Anti-Shifter Terrorist Squad is why. Long ago, members managed to get inside the camp by pretending to be Shifter sympathisers when they really wanted to kill them. What better place to do so than a village that takes Shifters in and helps them, it was like taking lambs to the slaughter. The tribe leader then made it so the village was wary of outsiders, to prevent another massacre" she explained.

Will nodded, understanding now.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(One hour later)**

Finally they arrived at the little village Mrs. Reade had told them about and the truck stopped. Will, Mrs. Reade, Richard and Thomas got out of the truck and another man appeared, startling Thomas. However the man looked like the truck sounded so Will reassured him that it was alright. Mrs. Reade came up to the front of the group and looked at them.

"Let me lead this, when I was Alexx's age, I came to stay here when my mate refused to accept me, they worship Shifters and believe that we are gods in human form, sent here to protect" she explained.

The others nodded and Mrs. Reade walked towards the village, one of the men turning around and smiling at her.

"Norma, it's been too long" he said.

Mrs. Reade smiled and put her forehead to his and began to ask him questions, while Thomas looked around the other three people.

"Anyone know what they're saying?" He asked.

The truck beside them rumbled.

"She is explaining that Alexx has gone missing and she is describing Alexx to him" The new man said.

Thomas nodded and then watched as Mrs. Reade came back to them.

"They have Alexx here and it's not good news. He said that a couple of the tribe found her laying in the desert, she was dehydrated and barely alive, they have rehydrated her but she has a broken heart" she explained.

At hearing this, the newest man walked up to the other man, the truck following a little. He grabbed the other man's arms and shook him a little.

"Where is Alexx?" He demanded.

Mrs. Reade came up to him and put her hand on his forearm.

"Making demands will get you nowhere" she said.

She then looked at the man who had put his hand on her own arm.

"Alexx is with the doctor, she is very ill" he said.

Will stepped forward and put his hand on the new man's shoulder.

"Hide, Mrs. Reade's right, demanding isn't going to get you anywhere" he said.

He then looked at the tribesman and smiled slightly.

"Can we see her?" He asked.

The tribesman looked at him and nodded.

"You are her father?" He questioned.

Will nodded and the man motioned for him to come with him. The army man nodded and followed him towards the shack.

"She is awake, but try not to talk to her too much" he said.

Again Will nodded and the man showed him into the shack. Will entered the building and his face fell at the sight of his adoptive daughter laying on the floor, covered in blankets and looking like death warmed up. Tears gathered in his eyes as he went over and sat next to her, picking up her hand and kissing it. She woke up and smiled a watery smile at him.

"I'm sorry" she whispered.

Will shook his head and sniffled a little.

"No, it's alright Alexx. I talked to Mrs. Reade and Mr. Moore, they explained everything. Why didn't you tell me that Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet were your mates?" He asked.

Alexx swallowed thickly and sighed a little.

"I didn't think you'd be happy about it" she said.

Will shook his head again and held her hand up to his lips again, before resting his cheek on it.

"I'm not, but if denying you your mates is going to kill you, I have no choice" he stated.

The Shifter femme nodded and the doctor told Will that it as time for him to go. Will kissed Alexx's hand once more and then left the shack, wiping his face as he did. He then walked over to the tribe leader and took his hand. Looking at him.

"I wanna take her home" he said.

The tribe leader nodded and looked at the truck.

"Not in that I hope?" He asked.

Will shook his head and wiped his face.

"No, I have a friend who has a fire and rescue hummer, he can take her" he replied.

The tribe leader nodded and Will nodded too before looking at Ironhide.

"Contact Ratchet ASAP, he's the only on who can take her back to base" he said.

Ironhide nodded and walked back to the truck.

**~Shifting Hearts**~

**(Ironhide)**

Getting into his alt form, he thought back to the conversation he, Optimus, Jazz and Ratchet were having before Alexx had interrupted them.

_**~Flashback~**_

_**Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet stood in the medbay having been called there by Optimus for an important discussion.**_

_**"What's up Optimus?" Jazz had asked.**_

_**The larger mech had cycled his intakes before speaking.**_

_**"I have detected a difference in Alexx's behaviour towards us, it's unsettling" he replied.**_

_**Ratchet nodded and hummed.**_

_**"Whenever she is near any one of us, her pheromones spike through the roof, her spark beats increase, her intakes increase and her core temperature rises. According to this planet's internet, these are the symptoms of arousal" he said.**_

_**Ironhide and Jazz looked at him and nodded.**_

_**"I noticed dat when I get a 'uman femme come up ta me, she growls an' her optic change" Jazz said.**_

_**Optimus nodded and rubbed his optics in a human gesture.**_

_**"I am unaware of Shifter biology and behaviour patterns but the scent of her arousal affects me greatly. Yet the scent of any other femme's arousal does not bother me" he stated.**_

_**The medic looked at Optimus and the others.**_

_**"We cannot enter into a relationship with her Optimus, she is human and will only live for less than a fraction of the time we do. It will not be fair on her or us" he said.**_

_**That's when Ironhide piped up.**_

_**"Why is it that her scent only affects us? The other mechs don't seem to be bothered by her scent" he said.**_

_**Ratchet shuttered his optics and shook his helm.**_

_**"I am unsure Ironhide. I find it perplexing that whenever another human male is near her, I feel my spark pulse lasted and I feel anger towards that male" he uttered.**_

_**Optimus, Jazz and Ironhide nodded, concurring with what the medic had said. **_

_**"What're we gonna do den?" Jazz asked.**_

_**Optimus cycled his intakes.**_

_**"We must protect her, if we instigate a relationship with Alexx, the Decepticons will target her. I will not put her or any of our human allies at any more risk than they already are" he said.**_

_**~End Flashback~**_

Ironhid cycled his intakes. So much for protecting her from Decepticon attack, she was at more risk of offlining without them as her mates than she was with a Decepticon attack.

**:Ironhide to Ratchet:**

**:Ratchet, what is it Ironhide?:**

**:We have located Alexx:**

**:Where?:**

**:A village in the desert five miles out of Mission City. She is...unwell Ratchet:**

**:Frag, what caused it?:**

Ironhide cycled his intakes.

**:You are not going to like the answer:**

**:Just tell me Ironhide:**

The gruff mech paused for a few seconds.

**:Ironhide:**

**:We caused it:**

**:Excuse me?:**

**:We caused it because we did not accept her as our mates:**

Ratchet was silent for a few moments.

**:Frag it all to pit! Is she alright?:**

**:If we do not accept her as our mates soon Ratchet, she will offline:**

Ratchet cursed so much that Ironhide was even shocked.

**:Can you bring her back to base?:**

**:That is why I am contacting you. The leader of this...tribe I believe they called it...will only allow us to move her if we have someone with the adequate vehicle and medical knowledge to do so:**

**:I am on my way, I must inform Optimus of these events:**

**:Understood, Ironhide out:**

He exited his alt mode and walked up to Will.

"Ratchet is on his way, he needs to inform Optimus first" he said.

Will nodded and then walked back to the truck, prompting Ironhide to follow him. The human then looked right at the mech.

"Why didn't you accept her as soon as she told you?" He asked.

Ironhide cycled his intakes.

"Optimus feared that entering into a relationship with her would make her a target for Decepticon attack. He wasn't willing to risk her life" he replied.

Will snorted and motioned to the shack.

"With what I saw in there, Decepticons would be doing her a favour by putting her out of her misery...misery that _you _and Optimus and Jazz and Ratchet caused" he said.

Ironhide cycled his intakes and walked away, before walking back.

"We did not know what was going to happen to Alexx when we declined her, she did not divulge to us what would happen" he said.

Will nodded and then rubbed his face.

"Well now you know" he said.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Half an hour later/Ratchet)**

Ratchet arrived in half the time it took for Ironhide and the others to arrive, thanks to his sirens, people moved out of the way for him. As soon as he arrived, his holoform was active and he was out of his alt form as fast as he could. Ironhide told him where Alexx was and because the shack was less than the optimum range for the holoform, the medic was able to get a gurney out of the back of his alt form and took it to the shack. What he saw when he got in there almost made his spark cease to beat. Alexx was so pale that she could pass for a cadaver, it was only because of his scans that he knew she was alive. Quickly, with the help of the tribe doctor, he got her onto the gurney and covered her with the blankets, opting to hurry back towards his alt form.

Once there, he got the gurney into the back of his alt form and then looked around. He scanned the two people who weren't the tribesman and found that one of them was a Shifter like Alexx. Taking a deep intake, he walked over to the older Shifter femme.

"You are a Shifter yes?" He asked.

The female nodded and Ratchet put his holographic hand onto her arm and walked away from the others. Once at a safe distance he began to speak.

"We caused this?" He questioned.

A solemn look passed the femme's face and she nodded.

"Alpha Shifters can take up to ten mates, but if the Shifter's first chosen mate rejects them, they will fall into a depression, its like a heartbreak, but a physical and real heartbreak, not one that human women say they have. This heartbreak will actually kill the Shifter" she explained.

Ratchet nodded and pinched his holographic nose.

"Accepting her as a mate will make her better?" He inquired.

The elder Shifter chuckled.

"This requires a little more than just acceptance dear, not only must you verbally accept to being her mate, but you must consummate it too" she answered.

The medic's holo eyes widened considerably.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

The Shifter smiled and walked over to the back of the alt form, opening the doors and looking up at Alexx.

"You must have intercourse with her. After that she will perk up and keep doing so until she has mated with all of her mates. Then the bond is sealed and she will return to her normal self" she replied.

Ratchet looked at her before he nodded. If interfacing with her would help her then that is what he would do. He looked at the femme.

"When?" He asked.

The elder woman gave a slight friendly curl of her lips.

"As soon as you deem her well enough" she said.

The mech nodded and then thanked her, closing his rear doors and looking to Ironhide who nodded and told Will that they had to go now. Ironhide also told Ratchet that first he would need to drop the male and the female off where he picked them up, then he would arrive at the base, Ratchet nodded and got into his alt form, starting up his engine and peeling out of there, only putting his sirens on when he got to the city. All the time he was driving, his holoform was in the back with Alexx, holding her hand and talking to her. He cared for her greatly, if he'd known that refusing to acknowledge being her mate would almost offline her, he would've accepted right then and there, now...seeing her like this made his spark ache in his chest and he realised...if she offlined, he would too. The realisation struck him like a lightning bolt and he had to pull over, there was only one reason that he would feel this way and he couldn't believe that it was possible. Shaking his helm, he got back on the road and made the final leg of the journey back to the base.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**(Back at base)**

Once Ratchet arrived back at the base, he didn't stop to talk to anyone, instead he went straight to the medbay and stopped by the human sized berth. His holoform then carried Alexx out of his alt form and put her in the bed, covering her up and hooking her up to the machines he had there, before pulling a chair up to her side. He sat with her, taking her hand in his own again, looking at it and stroking it before pressing his lips to the back of it. Cycling his intakes, he then rested his cheek against the hand and looked at her.

"I have been a fool Alexx...I believed that refusing to acknowledge that we were your mates would keep you out of harms way. But I see now it's done the opposite. I believe myself, Jazz, Ironhide and Optimus are in a...catch twenty three. We enter into a relationship with you and we may as well paint a target on your back for the Decepticons, but then...we refuse to enter into a relationship with you and you offline from a broken spark" he whispered.

He put his forehead on her hand and once again cycled his intakes.

"I don't know what to do" he said.

All was quiet for a minute, before he felt a hand drop on his head. Looking up sharply, he saw Alexx's eyes open a little and she swallowed thickly.

"C-catch twenty two" she whispered.

Her voice was hoarse, but right at that moment Ratchet didn't care. He smiled at her and she put her hand to his face, stroking his cheek lightly before dropping her hand. Ratchet grabbed it and held it up to his lips.

"I realised something on the way back from the village you were in" he said.

Alexx looked at him and licked her lips before swallowing thickly again.

"What?" She asked.

The mech leaned in and put his lips next to her ear.

"You are my mate Alexx" he said.

He pulled back and looked at her, she seemed to be smiling and the heart monitor that was only registering a slow heartbeat sped up a few beats. He looked at it and smiled.

"I was wrong to refuse you as a mate, I realised that I love you Alexx...for a while I did not want to believe it, but now I do. I love you Alexx and I accept that I am your mate" he said.

At this, the heart monitor sped up a few more beats and then he felt a hand come up to his collar and drag him downwards. Before he knew what was happening, dry and chapped lips were pressing against his own and without further ado, he began to respond to the kiss, all the while removing the pads from her chest, ignoring the way the machine flatlined from a missing heartbeat. He climbed onto the bed, straddling her as he kissed her back. With a heartbeat as strong as what hers was now, he deemed her fit enough to do this. He got off of her, breaking the kiss and pulling her shirt over her head, he helped her to get fully undressed and then he zapped his clothing off, getting into bed with her, he started kissing her again, his lips moving from her lips, to her jawline, to her cheeks, to her eyes, her forehead and back to her jawline, before he began to kiss lower.

The scratchy groans that were coming from the femme beneath him had his spike rock hard in mere seconds, well...it felt like seconds, but still. He made his way back up to her lips as his hand travelled downwards and slipped between her sacred lips, seeing how moist she was. He groaned at the feeling and the scent had his spike aching. Pulling back, he used his hand to guide himself to her entrance and looked into her eyes...those beautiful hazel eyes that where they were once dull and had no spark in them, now had the glittering of a small spark in them. She nodded and he pushed into her, groaning at how tight she was. Over in the corner, his root form had his spike in his servo and was slowly pumping away at it as his holoform began to make love to the Shifter femme who had claimed his spark in such a short amount of time.

His movements were unrushed, every thrust inside her was done carefully and with every intent of enjoying the feeling. As a medic, he knew that humans were soft and squishy, but he had no idea that they could be this tight, this hot, this wet. His groans mingled with hers, lips smacked against one another and flesh rubbed over flesh, he lowered his head and arched his back, taking one of her nipples into his mouth and softly biting on it while he rubbed his tongue over it. The sounds she made at such an action spurned him on and caused him to buck a little irregularly into her, just this action alone caused a started gasp to erupt from her. Though he stopped, unsure...

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Alexx nodded and wrapped her legs around his waist, moving her hips on his, giving him the hint to carry on. He did so without hesitation, rolling his hips up inside her and deciding to try what he'd just done, he purposely bucked irregularly inside her and the startled gasps and strangled moans that came from her were like music to his ears. He knew that it wouldn't be long until he reached overload, but he was determined to get her there before he fell off that cliff himself. His hand meandered down her body, reaching the apex of her thighs, finding that little pleasure nub and beginning to tease it in time with his thrusts. At the same time he leaned down and took her nipple into his mouth, biting, grazing, sucking, licking it until he felt her walls start to flutter around him, that's when he sped up his thrusts and it wasn't long until she was practically screaming in pleasure as she climaxed around him. The feeling of her walls contracting so tightly around his human spike sent him into overload. His real body stiffening up as clear fluids shot out of the tip of his spike.

He leaned against the wall, willing his intakes to regulate again as his holoform dropped his coolant covered forehead against Alexx's chest. He then looked up at her and kissed her, feeling her hand run through his hair at the action. She then pulled away a little.

"I love you Ratchet" she said.

The mech smiled and kissed her again, backing off so that his lips were just above hers.

"I love you too Alexx" he whispered.

He watched as she closed her eyes and drifted into a nice and content sleep, before smiling and putting the pads back on her chest, registering her heartbeat again, which was relatively normal considering the activities they'd just been doing. Giving one last smile, he removed himself from her and flopped to the side, pulling her into him and closing his eyes, a content smile upon his features as he did.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: So Chapter 11, with Alexx getting it on with Ratchet. Seeing as he won the poll. Now...I wanted to introduce the Shifter worshipping tribe here, because they'll be coming into the story a lot from now. Also the mention of the Anti-Shifter Terrorist Squad who will be coming into the story soon. I realise that what happened with Ratchet and Alexx may be a bit surreal, but...that's how Shifters are. Anyway...I hope you enjoy this newest chapter, I'm getting a load of e-mails telling me that people are favouriting or following this story and I'm thinking to myself..."Well I must be doing something right". Thank you all for reviewing, favouriting and following this story and may I continue to wow you with the plot.**_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 23 September 2014_

_Word Count: 4881_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 27 September 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 04 October 2014_


	12. Chapter 12

_**For Disclaimer, **__**warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1.**_

**Warning: Lemon at end of chapter**

**Chapter 12**

**(A Few Days Later)**

A few days had passed and Alexx had improved dramatically after Ratchet had accepted being her mate. Though she wasn't fit enough to be up and about, the monitors that she'd been hooked up too had now been disconnected. She was currently eating a bowl of soup that Sarah had sent in with Will and said man was sat next to her eating a similar bowl of soup. He was glad that Alexx had improved, but he was surprised by how fast she had improved, though he guessed that it was something to do with being a Shifter. Also in the last few days General Morshower had acquired the hangar in Diego Garcia and had given the team the go ahead to move there, so with everyone already packed, all they had to do was just load it onto the planes and get out of there. Alexx had gone with Optimus, under strict orders that she wasn't to do any strenuous activity until he could monitor her vitals, she hadn't minded, with Optimus being one of her mates too...it was calming to be with him. So now she was sat in the cab of the Autobot leader, on their way to the new base in Diego Garcia.

"How are you feeling Alexx?" The large mech asked.

He activated his holoform and looked over at the femme, who smiled at him and pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them almost.

"I'm alright, still a little weak, got a bit of a cough..." She said.

As if to accentuate this, a very rattly cough forced its way out of her and once she was done, she swallowed thickly, but then smiled again at the mech.

"But nothing too bad. I feel a little better" she said.

The mech nodded and she looked out the front window, there wasn't much to see except plane interior, but it stopped her from saying anything to the mech beside her. True enough, without her other mates accepting the fact that they _were _her mates, she would become ill again until the others accepted. But she didn't want to think about that, she was happy to think about some other things, like what Ratchet had told her when she had woken up.

_**~Flashback~**_

_**Alexx woke up with the feeling of someone hugging her, turning over in the arms she was happy to see that Ratchet was there, looking down at her with his almost glowing blue eyes. A smile made its way across her face and he leaned down, pressing a kiss to her nose.**_

_**"Morning handsome" she said.**_

_**The blush upon the cheeks of her mech made her chuckle and she kissed his lips, which he responded to, until he pulled away.**_

_**"Why'd you do it?" Alexx asked.**_

_**Ratchet looked down at her and his face showed confusion so Alexx sighed and curled into him more.**_

_**"Why'd you accept?" She questioned.**_

_**The mech lifted her face up so that he could look into her eyes and he cycled his intakes.**_

_**"William went looking for you, he spoke to the other femme Shifter and the other human male and they explained to Ironhide what had happened. The femme took them to the village that you were in, but they couldn't move you until I got there. I spoke to the femme myself and she said that unless we want you to offline, we must accept you as mates and interface with you" he said.**_

_**Alexx looked at his face and searched his eyes before nodding and then she sighed too.**_

_**"So why didn't you accept in the first place?" She asked.**_

_**The mech cycled his intakes yet again and rolled onto his back, letting Alexx's head rest on his chest.**_

_**"Optimus was worried that initiating a relationship with you would make you more of a target for the Decepticons. If they knew that you were the mate of not only a medic, weapons specialist, saboteur but a Prime as well, they would stop at nothing to get to you, it would destroy Optimus if you were injured" he explained.**_

_**Alexx nodded and ran her hand through his fine chest hair, before moving her head to his shoulder.**_

_**"So you didn't accept to...save me" she stated.**_

_**Ratchet nodded and then looked into her eyes.**_

_**"Indeed, though it seems as if not accepting you put you in more danger than accepting you would" he said.**_

_**~End Flashback~**_

It had made a lot of sense to her and she was grateful that the mechs had tried to protect her, but she couldn't deny the pull she still felt to all of them, including Ratchet. They'd explained about their war and how many lives it had taken and she had to admit, she was worried. If the Decepticons were as bad as the mechs made them out to be, any one of her mates could be taken and that would kill her. She looked over to Optimus' holoform and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes and leaning back against the seat, maybe getting a bit of sleep would help her regain some of her strength.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Optimus)**

Looking over at the femme while she was recharging, he felt his spark pull. It hurt him to deny being her mate and once he'd found out from Ratchet just what their refusal had done to her, he was sure that his spark had stopped for a few nanoseconds. All he had wanted to do was protect the femme from the Decepticons, but then Ironhide had told him what Will had said, with how Ratchet explained she'd been found, he had to admit that a Decepticon attack would be more dignified than her offlining because of them. He cycled his intakes and stood up, carefully gathering the femme up in his arms and moving to the back of his cab, placing her on the little sleeper and covering her with the blanket there.

He watched her for a few minutes, before he swept some of her hair away from her optics and found a smile creeping onto his face at the sight of her. He couldn't imagine life without her and that thought made him stop and as realisation hit him, when he was near her, he felt a happiness that he'd never felt before and when she had almost offlined, when Will had told them that she'd gone missing...sorrow had filled the happiness. He'd experienced something like this once before, with Elita, but never had it been this strong. Perhaps she was his mate after all, and if that was the case, he had no right to deny her such a thing, though he couldn't quite understand how he could mate with a Shifter, or even a human for that matter.

Once again the mech cycled his intakes and deactivated his holoform, his cab was already heated to a temperature that humans deemed comfortable and while they flew to Diego Garcia he couldn't do much else, so he slipped into a light recharge cycle, happy to have the femme with him.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(A Few Hours Later/Normal)**

The planes landed and the mechs aalong with the humans were soon on their way to the hanger that had been procured for them. Alexx had since woken up and was once again sitting in the passenger seat of the semi watching the scenery pass. Optimus, having activated his holoform sat there watching the femme, his lips curled into a smile every time hers did and from that point on, he knew he'd not be able to deny her anymore. But he wanted his acceptance to be special, Ratchet had informed him that when he accepted to being her mate, he would need to interface with her too and he didn't think that the road was the best place for that, so he would do it later.

It wasn't long until they reached the new base and immediately places were being built for the humans and the things that had been packed were being unpacked, the chef was immediately in the kitchen area and sorting out the appliances and the counters and creating an area for the mess hall. General Morshower had sent some computers, which will be used by both the General and the NEST team to talk to one another via video feed. He also informed Will that the training for the NEST team would start tomorrow and that he would be the leader of the human faction in the team. With Alexx having evacuated Optimus' cab, the mech was free to transform, which he had done and he helped with some of the moving things.

Ratchet had secured an area which he would use as a med bay and the human berths as well as the cybertronian berths had been placed there too. Once that was done, Will had informed him that before training began, he would need to examine every member of the team, which included the mechs too. Will had also spoken to General Morshower about Sam, the boy who had helped in the battle in Mission City and the General had said that the boy was going to go to college and that the government would fully fund it because he helped in Mission City. Soon, with everyone helping, the base was like the other one and everyone could relax, though Optimus wasn't looking to relax. He walked out of the base and looked around for Alexx, who was sat atop one of the human residences that had been put in place for temporary measures until they were sure that they were staying here.

The Shifter femme turned around at the sound of the large mech coming towards her and she smiled, which of course caused Optimus to smile too. Once he got to where she was, he held out a palm to her and she climbed upon it, so he could bring her face to face with him.

"I believe I have something to tell you Alexx" he said.

He scanned her and was a little worried about what he found. Her heart rate had slowed down a little, it was now just under the average human heart rate, with intervals of increased heart rate...a quick search online told him that this was called an irregular heart rate, which he was sure she never had before. He cleared his fuel lines and smiled down at her.

"Alexx Lennox, I accept that I am your mate" he said.

He scanned her again and found that her heart rate had climbed a little and though it was still a little irregular, it was what was considered normal for a human. The smile that lit her face up like a thousand watts in a lightbulb was contagious and he found himself smiling brightly too. Slowly, he put her down on the ground and transformed, activating his holoform and opening his passenger door. His holoform came around to her and lifted her up.

"As per instructions of Ratchet, you are not to do too much strenuous activity unless he is there" he said.

He helped her into his cabin and closed the door before disappearing. Then he drove into the base and towards the med bay that had been set up. Once there, he contacted Ratchet via comms.

_**:Ratchet, I intend to mate with Alexx, will the Med bay suffice?:**_

_**:Yes Optimus, there are berths here that you may use:**_

The large mech chuckled slightly.

_**:They won't be necessary Ratchet, I have a sleeper in my cab that I will make use of:**_

_**:Very well. How is she?"**_

_**:Her spark is beating a little irregularly, but it is normal. It is the cough that I am worried about:**_

Ratchet looked at the semi and furrowed his optic ridges.

_**:Has it become worse?:**_

_**:No...but I do not wish to make it worse by interfacing with her:**_

_**:I don't believe it will make it worse Optimus, if anything interfacing with her will make it better:**_

_**:Very well:**_

With that done, the mech activated his holoform again and looked at the femme. He reached over and took one of her hands iinto his own.

"I apologise for denying you at first Alexx, I was worried" he said.

Alexx smiled and crawled into his lap, straddling him and pressing her lips to his. When she pulled away, she pressed her forehead to his.

"I know, Ratchet told me. I'm glad you care for me enough to want to protect me from the Decepticons" she said.

Optimus smiled at her and she leaned in and pressed her lips against his again. She shuffled against him and smiled when he groaned, feeling his excitement through his jeans. With that, Optimus stood up with her still in his lap and moved to the back of the cab, laying her down on the sleeper and holding himself over her. Slowly, he brought his mouth down to hers and began to kiss her deeply and passionately but with a carefulness that was almost as if she were made of China. Once he'd explored her mouth, he began to explore her jawline and her throat before making his way back up to her mouth. But he didn't stop there, instead he went to her nose and kissed that, before he went up to her eyes, when she closed them he kissed her eyelids and then her forehead and then her cheeks. Then he kissed her lips again and slowly began to unbutton her shirt, kissing down her throat, to the valley of her breasts. Once her shirt was undone, he pushed it over her shoulders and helped her sit up so that he could take the shirt off. With that done, he went to work on her bra, unclipping it and removing it from her person.

Pretty soon, she was naked underneath him and he sat back on his haunches to look her over, she lay there, her lips parted and bruised from kissing and her body...to him...was absolutely perfect. He got up and unlike what Ratchet did, he began to slowly remove his own clothing, the items disappearing when they hit the floor and once he too was naked, he climbed back on the bed, her scent aroused him more than anything and knowing that she wasn't a virgin anymore, he made sure she was wet enough for him and he positioned himself between her legs, using his hand to guide himself to her entrance. Slowly he pushed into her and waited as she got used to his size, before he slowly began to thrust into her, his eyes locked on hers as he did. Slowly he made love to her, his movements unrushed, though the sounds she was making were causing him to have to fight his body, the noises making him want to thrust hard and fast into her, but...he liked to think he had more control than that.

It wasn't long until he could feel her inner muscles fluttering around his length and he sped up just a little bit, not enough to bring her so much pleasure that she climaxed, but enough to cause said climax to slowly build. When she started squirming underneath him, he hiked the thrusts up a little more, now willing her to climax before he did and he soon got his wish, she orgasmed around him with a loud and long moan, her inner walls gripping him so tightly that he fell over the cliff too and shot his fluids into her. Thankfully, they were harmless, just simple mech fluids. Slowly he stopped thrusting and he held himself over her, watching how she continued to squirm until her spasms had stopped and she opened her eyes. When she did that, Optimus gasped, her eyes seemed to glow and he leaned down to kiss her, before he removed himself from her and lay down beside her.

"I love you Optimus" she said.

Optimus smiled and pulled her to him, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.

"And I love you. Now rest" he stated.

Alexx nodded and closed her eyes, falling into a peaceful and content sleep.

**_~Shifting Hearts~_**

**_A/N: Okay...sorry for the late update, I know I usually update in the mornings, but I've had a bit of a flu-like cold this week and my mind was so hazy that I couldn't write. Thankfully though, my head's cleared up enough to have allowed me to write this. Well...Optimus won the latest Poll and here you go, smexy scene between Alexx and Optimus. Once I started writing, it just flowed like blood from a deep gash. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, thank you for voting on the poll, for favouriting, for following and for reviewing._**

**_Thanks for reading and enjoy_**

**_Vampyrex1_**

_Date Written: 04 October 2014_

_Word Count: 2900_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 04 October 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 11 October 2014_


	13. Chapter 13

_**For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1.**_

**Chapter 13**

**(Somewhere in the desert)**

The wind howled and dust flew everywhere as it blew across a baron landscape, but amid the sound of the wind was the roaring of an engine. An old land rover sped down the road, on either side of the black pathway was dry dirt, so pale it could have been mistaken for sand, inside the land rover were three men, they were all ex-army and they all had one thing in mind...revenge. They were heading towards a derelict prison just up the road, it was a maximum security area, but after the events of two years ago, the security had been increased.

Soon, the vehicle arrived at the first gate and the man there nodded to let them through and they moved onto the next gate, where the second man nodded and they were let through. The vehicle then drove up to the compound and stopped, three doors opened and the three men stepped out. One of the men lead the way into the building, punching in codes if and when they were needed and sorting out the retina scans too. The lights in the building flickered every so often and the sounds of terrified and sorrow filled cries could be heard. The third man looked around at a particularly loud cry but the other two laughed at him.

"You're gonna have to get used to that if you're workin' for us now" one said.

The third man glared at them and stayed where he was as they walked off. He shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Let's get one thing straight you overconfident dicks, I'm not _workin' _for you" he said.

The two men stopped themselves and turned to face him, just as he walked by them shoving them with his shoulder as he went. They looked at one another and then looked back at the man who was waiting at the next door.

"Oh believe me mate, you'll be workin' for us...the boss ain't gonna take no for an answer. He never does" the other man said.

The third man rolled his eyes and motioned to the door, which the first man came up to and opened. Once they were through that door, they ascended several flights of stairs until they came to the wardens office. The second man looked at the third man and held up his hand.

"Stay here until you're called" he said.

He and the first man then walked into the office, closing the door behind them and leaving the third man out there, with no-one watching him.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(In the office)**

The two men stood in front of a desk that had a balding man sat behind it, they fidgeted a lot, they were nervous. After the events of two years ago, their boss wasn't happy with them and one wrong move could cause them to be put in a room with one of the _things _that they were breeding. The first man cleared his throat in hopes of getting the balding man to look up at them, but it didn't work, instead the man spoke without raising his head from what he was writing.

"Did you find her?" He asked.

His voice was deep, but it was also as if he was speaking through his nose. The two men looked at one another and then looked back at the man, each finding something to fiddle with on their person. The pen stopped moving on the paper that was in front of the balding man.

"I take it that by your silence the answer is no" he stated.

He glanced up and the two men swallowed.

"Sorry boss, she's covered her tracks well" the first man said.

Blue eyes turned hard and the men shrank back a little in fear, that look was never a good look, especially coming from the boss.

"No, _she _hasn't covered her tracks well. Her bastard parents covered her tracks well. This is why I told you to watch them!" He said.

Well...the last part was yelled and the two men shrank back even more.

"We're sorry boss, we didn't know what they were planning, hell we didn't even know that she was pregnant" the second man said.

The boss looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

"What do you think I let you join for, my own amusement? It's your _job _to know what each and every one of these fucking freaks are planning, it's your _job _to know if one of them is pregnant or not" he yelled.

The men nodded and fiddled more with whatever they were fiddling with, sighing in relief when the boss sat back down again. He rubbed his eyes and then sighed himself. The first man looked at the second man and motioned towards the boss, the second man only mirrored his movements, making the boss look up at them.

"What are you not telling me?" He demanded.

The first man took a breath and stepped forward.

"_We _don't know where she is..." He began.

The other man finished his sentence, unable to contain his excitement.

"...but we got someone who does" he said.

The first man glared at the second man, who shrank back and bowed his head. The first man then looked back at the boss who had one eyebrow raised.

"So...where is he?" He asked.

The second man walked to the door and opened it, motioning for someone to come in. The third man entered the room and looked around.

"Nice place you got here, does it cost much to run?" He asked.

The boss just looked at him and gave a bit of a smirk, standing up and leaning over the table.

"Cents I assure you. Who are you?" He questioned.

The third man shook his head.

"No, no, no. The question isn't who I am, it's what I can do for you" he replied.

The boss raised his eyebrow again and sat down slowly, folding his hands in front of him on the desk.

"Okay Mr..." He began.

The third man smirked.

"Hollier" he said.

The boss man nodded and leaned back in his chair.

"Okay Mr. Hollier, what is it you can do for us?" He asked.

Hollier smirked and helped himself to a seat in front of the boss's desk.

"Well, I can not only give you the little freak that you're after, but I can give you the people she holds dear, another freak and where the little freak lives too" he said.

The boss leaned forward again and a small smile curled the corners of his lips.

"And in return?" He asked.

Hollier leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I want my name left out of it, I got a family to feed and if I get dishonourably discharged, I ain't gonna have me retirement fund" he said.

The boss smirked and nodded.

"Deal...but...you tell us _everything _we need to know about Alexx" he stated.

Hollier nodded and the boss nodded too.

"Well, start talkin'" he said.

Hollier took a breath and he started to tell the other man everything he knew.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

Once he'd finished talking, the boss seemed to be very happy as he had a huge smile on his face.

"This is just brilliant. Now we can rectify what we lost two years ago and what's better is tthat she's already reached sexual maturity" he said.

The other two men seemed to be happy too, this would be a chance for them to prove to their boss that they weren't completely incompetent, that they could actually do something right for a change. Hollier stood up and gave a bit of a shrug.

"That's all I know. You're gonna have trouble getting onto base though, especially if you bring tweedletwit and tweedletwat with you" he said.

He motioned to the other two men while saying the two names and the boss looked up at him and tilted his head to the side.

"What do you suggest?" He asked.

Hollier shrugged.

"Two men with proper military experience. I'm surprised these two even lasted a _day _in the barracks. You need two fully qualified men, who can sneak in and sneak out" he answered.

The boss brought his hand to his chin and nodded, before waving his hands in a 'get out' motion. The two men took Hollier out of the room, while the boss sat in his chair and thought. He did have a few men who were well trained, who could get in and get out without being noticed or suspected. A victorious smirk appeared on his lips, finally he could have the one thing he'd needed here since he started his army, an Alpha who could mate with any member of the _Panthera _family and still produce offspring. Of course, offspring coming from an Alpha would be strong soldiers, just what he needed. He leaned forward and picked up the phone.

"Jason, Stuart...I have a job for you" he said.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Yeah, relatively short I know, but this is simply a filler. I felt like I needed to introduce the ASTS somewhere down the line and this is what's gonna build up to the part where...ultimately...the shit hits the fan. I was umming and ahhing about what I should write,thinking, "should I write another lemon scene, or should I make it so that Alexx has a bit of a break for now" so...this is what won the argument. The ASTS will be coming into this story a lot, I mean what's a story without a protagonist and an antagonist? **_

_**Anyway, thank you to all who have reviewed, favourited and followed this story and thank you to all who voted on the polls I had on my profile. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope that the story will stay at the same quality (if not better than) it has already been.**_

**_Thank you for reading and enjoy._**

**_Vampyrex1_**

_Date Written: 10 October 2014_

_Word Count: 1746_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 11 October 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 18 October 2014_


	14. Chapter 14

**_For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1._**

**Chapter 14**

**(A Few Weeks Later)**

A few weeks had passed and in those few weeks Will had brought Alexx a new phone so that she could contact him or the mechs if and when she needed to. As soon as she figured out how to use it, she'd instantly downloaded an app which would allow her to learn French, though when asked about it all she said was 'wait and see'. She had also made her way into the city and popped into a party store to order a costume, see Will had let slip to her that the guys on base were planning a Halloween party so they could show the mechs what it was all about and he'd also told her that he'd managed to hijack a house in a busy street for the trick or treating experience.

To say that she was excited would be an understatement, Halloween might be a few months away, but still she couldn't fight the buzz she had running through her veins at the thought of dressing up and sitting in a spookily decorated house for a few hours, even if it was to scare the wits out of children as they came and knocked on the door. Today, she'd gone back to the party store to check the status of her costume, having paid for it to be custom made, she was hoping it would be finished in a few weeks so she could try it on and then take it back to base and hide it. She had to admit, it was a bit of a struggle to determine who or what she was going to dress up as for Halloween, but soon enough one idea won over the other and she'd ordered the costume. She talked to the clerk who had told her that the manufacturer was having problems getting the material for the costume, that it would be another few weeks before it came, though the man had assured her that it would be delivered in time for Halloween.

Once she'd finished in the party store, Alexx decided to take a shortcut back to base, which included going through a load of trees. However, as she walked, her sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a dog, whining and barking and her first instinct was to run, but then she stopped, from what she'd heard about the ASTS, their dogs barked aggressively, not with frightened undertones to it. Curiosity getting the better of her, she followed the noise, coming up to a little cottage-like building, the noise was coming from inside. Slowly, she walked up to the door and pushed it open. She hesitated for a moment, before she walked inside and followed the noise to the back, where from the shadows, she saw a man advancing towards a now cowering dog, he had a stick in his hands.

Instantly, she felt a headache come on and she went to leave, but as soon as it came, it went and she looked back to the man and growled loudly. The man stopped in his tracks and the dog moved farther into the corner to try and get away from the human, who was now looking towards the door. The man put the stick down and instead picked up a large machete-like blade, holding it out.

"Who's there?" He asked.

He had a gruff voice and when no-one answered, he started to shake, the blade rattling in his hand. Alexx smirked from the shadows and inhaled long and deep, before the smirk settled onto her features again. She knew the man couldn't see her and she used that to her advantage.

"Scared are you?" She questioned.

The man looked straight at where she was standing and she emitted a dark chuckle as she saw his eyes widen considerably. Slowly, she stepped half out of the shadows, so he could see her, but her face was still shrouded in the shadow of the doorway.

"Wh-who're you?" The man asked.

Another dark chuckle escaped her, before it stopped and she looked at the cowering dog, she could see the fear in the dogs eyes, it took a lot of beatings to put that kind of fear into a dogs eyes and she growled, long and deep. Slowly, she stepped out of the shadows and looked the man right in the eyes, her entire body had changed, she was thinner and more toned, she stood a few inches taller, her hair was spikier and her jaw was more narrow. But what had changed the most, was the colour of her eyes...they were no longer hazel, instead they were jade green. She glared at the man and moving slowly, she walked over to the cowering dog, who in fear lashed out at her, but she didn't pay it any mind, she continued to reach for the chain around the dogs neck and carefully slipped it off. The dog however stayed where it was and slowly she brought her other hand up to pet it on the head.

Carefully she stood up and with the chain still in her hands, she turned to face the man her eyes green pools of fire. The man turned towards her and opened his mouth, but she let loose a ferocious growl that even made the dog yap in fear.

"Where do you get off hurting _innocent _animals?" She hissed.

She watched as the man narrowed his eyes at her and she growled again, less ferociously this time and where the growl didn't scare the dog, it definitely scared the man. He stood back a little before holding the knife up to her.

"You have no right to barge into my house and tell me what to do. The bloody dog killed one of my hens!" He yelled.

Alexx growled and pulled at the chain so hard that it snapped right on one of the links. Startled, the man jumped back and looked from the chain to her face and back to the chain again.

"Did you intend to whip the dog until you killed it or were you going to slit his throat with that knife?" She asked.

The man didn't say anything, instead he just kept looking at the chain and then her face, before he held the knife up again, shaking more this time.

"What are you? S-some kind of freak?" He inquired.

Alexx raised her top lip at the word _freak _and dropped the chain. She walked towards him and within a few seconds had his knife pressed against his throat with his back pressed against the wall.

"I heard your dog whining and barking in terror, that fear in his eyes, it takes a lot of beatings to put that kind of fear in a dog. You weren't beating him because he killed a chicken, you were beating him because you're a violent drunk with no-one to take it out on, except the dog. People like you disgust me" she hissed.

The man shook even more and soon there was the tell tale noise of liquids hitting the floor and she glanced down to see that the man had just soiled himself. She smirked and looked up at him, a murderous mischief in her eyes.

"Here's what I'm gonna do and here's what _you're _gonna do. _You're _gonna apologise, and I'm gonna spare your life. Deal?" She asked.

The man nodded enthusiastically and she stepped back a little, still holding the blade to his throat.

"Apologise" she said.

The man swallowed thickly, his Adams Apple bobbing against the knife as he licked his lips.

"I-I'm sorry" he stuttered.

Alexx rolled her eyes and growled.

"Not to me you buffoon, to the dog" she stated.

The man just looked at her and his eyebrows furrowed.

"W-what?" He asked.

She growled loudly again.

"Apologise!" She yelled.

The man jumped and swallowed again.

"I-I'm s-sorry Stanley!" He wailed.

Alexx looked over at the dog, who looked still scared, before she looked back at the man.

"Well...you apologised" she said.

The man nodded again and once again swallowed thickly.

"S-so y-yoiu're gonna spa-spare me ri-right?" He questioned.

The femme seemed to think it over, making a little humming noise as she did, before she looked at the man with the mischief gone but the murderous intent still there.

"Mmmmm nope" she said.

The man started breathing even heavier and he grabbed onto her wrist.

"But you said..." He started.

Alexx chortled and then looked right into his eyes.

"I lied" she said.

She then pressed a little harder and dragged the knife across the man's throat, within seconds blood started pouring out of the gaping wound and he brought a hand up instinctively. As he fell to the ground, she caught him, the blood soaking her beige shirt as she did.

"There, there...it won't last long" she crooned.

Then she stood up and dropped the body as she did. With blood over her hands she turned towards the dog and smiled.

"Come Stanley" she said.

The dog whined and came up to her, she wiped her hands off on her black trousers and crouched down, rubbing the dog behind the ears. She then got up and walked out of the house, the golden Labrador behind her.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(A few hours later)**

Alexx woke to the feel of something wet on her face, she opened her eyes and saw the grey sky and rain droplets falling towards her. Slowly she sat up and as she did she heard the groan of a dog, this made her look to her left side to see a golden lab looking at her with his head on his paws. She reached out to him and he sat up quickly and backed away from her, so she pulled her hand away and looked at it, seeing it covered with almost washed off blood. She looked around and her eyes caught a note that was stuck to a tree with what looked like a masonry nail. Looking back at the dog, she got up and walked over to the note, picking it off the tree, because of the canopy, it was barely even wet and the writing was definitely hers.

"His name is Stanley" she read.

The dog barked and she turned towards him, he was laid down again, his brown eyes looking up at her. She read the note again and looked at the dog, quickly putting two and two together.

"Your name is Stanley?" She asked.

The dog groaned and stayed in his position. Alexx raised an eyebrow and put the note in her pocket, before crouching down and clicking her fingers.

"Here Stanley" she called.

The dog got up and walked towards her, sitting between her bent knees and panting. She reached up and stroked behind his ears and she heard his tail start to wag against the leaf litter. She then stood up and looked around, she had no idea where she was and she reached into her other pocket and pulled out her phone, easily finding Will's number and dialling it.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(With Will)**

As soon as he heard the ringtone for Alexx, he pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and accepted the call, putting it on speaker.

"Alexx?" He asked.

There was some rustling on the other end and her breathing too.

_**"Will?"** _She asked back.

Will breathed a sigh of relief, though he didn't know if she was injured or not, he was glad to know that she was alive.

"Where are you?" He questioned.

More rustling, he guessed she was looking around or something.

_**"I don't know, in a forest...somewhere"** _she replied.

The man looked at the mechs who were around and Ironhide nodded at him and he nodded back.

"Don't worry, Ironhide's tracking your phone, don't hang up" he said.

There was silence and it wasn't long until Ironhide had her location.

"Okay Alexx, Ironhide has your location, we're coming to you. Are you hurt?" He asked.

He could hear her patting herself down, obviously she was soaking wet.

_**"No, but...oh my god!"** _She cried.

Will, Optimus, Ironhide, Jazz, Ratchet, the other mechs, the femmes and the other humans all stopped dead at the sound of that cry and the five who cared about her most felt fear in their hearts/sparks.

"What is it?" Will asked.

There was sniffling and shuddering breaths.

**_"I-I'm c-covered in b-blood"_**she whispered.

Will nodded to Ironhide who transformed and Will got into his cab.

"I'm coming Alexx" he said.

He took the phone off of speaker and when he put it to his ear, he heard a dog barking.

"Alexx, what's that?" He questioned.

Another sniffle.

_**"Oh that's just Stanley, I don't know where he came from, but he's friendly enough"** _Alexx said.

Will pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Just...don't move alright?" He asked.

He stayed on the line with Alexx until they reached her location and when they did, Will was straight out of Ironhide's cab and over to her with her in his arms in what felt like seconds. The dog was sat patiently next to her wagging his tail and panting as Will did this.

"What happened?" Will asked.

Alexx looked at him and shrugged, more tears springing to her eyes.

"I don't know. All I remember is coming out of the party store, taking a shortcut home and hearing a dog barking and whining. But it wasn't the kind of bark that the ASTS dogs would do, it was a scared bark. So I went to investigate and I can't remember anything after that" she explained.

Will nodded and looked down at the dog, crouching down and reaching out to him, seeing the blood on his paws and a little still on his head behind his ears. He looked up at Alexx who was looking down at him and the dog and then Will sighed.

"Come on" he said.

Alexx walked towards Ironhide and patted her thigh, Stanley came too and Ironhide's holoform held up his hands.

"Oh no, _that_ is _not _getting in my cab" he said.

The Shifter femme glared at him.

"Well he's not riding in the back, in the rain. He's soaking wet as it is" she said.

Ironhide shook his head and Alexx growled, before walking away.

"Come on Stanley" she said.

The dog followed her and Will held up his hands, looking at Ironhide.

"You have _leather _seats, they can be dried off" he said.

The muscular man glared at him before rolling his eyes.

"Come on!" He called.

Alexx turned back and raised an eyebrow and Ironhide opened up his door, motioning for her to come with the dog. The Shifter femme smiled slightly and tapped her thigh, walking up to Ironhide and slipping into the passenger seat, tapping her lap. Stanley jumped up into her lap and then Ironhide cringed and closed his door. He then disappeared and Will got in behind the wheel, closing the door and heading back towards the base.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Back at base)**

As soon as they got back to base, Will had explained what Alexx had said and Ratchet had Alexx in for a check up and when he was satisfied that neither she or her canine friend had any injuries, he scanned the blood on her shirt and he was quite worried with what he found.

"And you're sure you can't remember what happened between you investigating the noises and you getting to the forest you were found in?" He asked.

Alexx nodded.

"It's like...its blank. Investigating the dog sounds is the last thing I remember...why?" She asked.

Ratchet shot her a worried glance and then cycled his intakes.

"This blood on your..." He began.

He looked up the term and then came back to her.

"The blood on your shirt...it's not yours" he said.

Alexx's eyes widened and she looked around, tears springing to her eyes again.

"Whose is it?" She asked.

Ratchet just gave her a concerned but sympathetic look.

"I apologise Alexx, but I am unsure as to who the donor is. I can say however, that from the amount of blood, whoever the donor was, they were bleeding quite profusely, probably from a major artery" he replied.

Alexx nodded and looked down to the floor, tears running down her face at the implications of what she'd done.

"I killed someone didn't I?" She asked.

Ratchet looked at her and gently lifted her head so he could look into her eyes.

"Now, I doubt that is the case Alexx" he said.

The femme looked into his optics and then sobbed loudly, causing him to bring her towards his chest plates.

"It will be alright Alexx" he said.

He kept saying this until she'd cried herself to sleep, then he'd placed her in the human cot and watched as the dog jumped onto the bed and curled up next to her. He cycled his intakes and walked out of the med bay, coming face to face with Ironhide, Jazz, Optimus and Will.

"Well?" Will asked.

Ratchet looked at the human male.

"She is traumatised. The blood on her shirt is most definitely not hers" he said.

Will raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know?" He asked.

Ratchet looked at him.

"Because the donor was male" he replied.

Will furrowed his brow and started biting his thumbnail.

"So she killed someone?" He questioned.

Ratchet went to say something but Optimus interjected.

"I highly doubt that Alexx has offlined someone, she is not like that" he said.

The medic nodded and shrugged.

"It is possible she was just helping someone who was losing a lot of blood fast and as a result got some on her clothing" he said.

Will looked at him.

"_Some _that looks like a lot more than _some_ to me!" He yelled.

Optimus attempted to calm the human down, but he just walked off, shaking his head. The large mech looked at Ratchet, who looked back.

"What are you thinking old friend?" He asked.

Ratchet looked down, before looking back at the large mech.

"Optimus, she has no memory of what happened to put the blood on her shirt. It is possible that she offlined someone, but I cannot be sure" he said.

The large mech nodded, this was a dilemma indeed.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Okay, so the inspiration for this chapter came from watching a programme called Jekyll, which is a spin on the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story. I realised that Alexx and Thera are actually very much like the two named characters, with Alexx being Jekyll and Thera being Hyde. So I thought...why can'take Alexx have a change that's a little like the change between Jekyll and Hyde as well as her normal transformation from human to feline. So in case you're wondering about the sudden change of Alexx, this is the reason. Anyway...I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thank you to all my reviewers, favouriters, followers and readers...I'm not sure how many chapters this will be...but I'm expecting this story to be a long one. **_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 17 October 2014_

_Word Count: 3326_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 18 October 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 25 October 2014_


	15. Chapter 15

_**For Disclaimer, warnings, rating, pairings, summary and legend, please refer to Chapter 1.**_

**Chapter 15.**

**(A Few Months Later)**

A few months passed and finally Halloween arrived; the day was spent finding the right music for the party and decorating both the base and the house for that night. In the last few months, there had been a few isolated incidents of Alexx having blackouts and waking up in strange places with no memory of how she got there or what she'd done. Ratchet had also hacked the local Law Enforcement database and managed to find the name and residential address of the male who had spilled his blood over Alexx's shirt and with this information he decided to visit the specified residence. What he saw there shocked him to the core, in fact it positively horrified him. The named male was on the floor, flies and maggots all over his body, a gaping wound where his carotid artery and jugular vein were and the blood had pooled around him and soaked into the wooden floorboards. The stench was horrible and the medic had to fight not to purge his tanks, he scanned the body and the knife that was on the floor next to it and his worst fears were confirmed. Not only had the male been offline for at least three months, but the fingerprints and DNA on the knife were a close enough match to Alexx that she would immediately be the suspect.

With disappointment and sorrow in his optics, the mech had deactivated his holoform and transformed back into his alt form, begrudgingly informing Optimus of what he had found. The Prime hadn't been happy to say the least and Ratchet thought he had detected a hint of sorrow in the Autobot Leader's vocals, obviously he had known what the findings meant for their mate. While the medic had been on his way back to the base, he had gone over the DNA he had found on the knife, sure it had been close enough to Alexx's own DNA to be a match, but there had been certain undertones to it that could have possibly thrown off a human forensic pathologist. The mech had cycled his intakes and sped up so he could reach the base faster.

Once there, Optimus had called a meeting with Ironhide, Jazz and Ratchet himself to discuss the problem and there had been a massive debate both in Cybertronian and English as to whether they should allow Alexx to join the human soldiers at this Trick or Treat party.

_**~Flashback~**_

_**Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet stood in the med bay after Ratchet had returned. The Autobot Leader had a grave expression upon his faceplates as he turned towards Ironhide and Jazz. He cycled his intakes and rubbed his servo down his face, before taking a deep intake and releasing it slowly.**_

_**"What is it Optimus?" Ironhide asked.**_

_**The mech looked at him and shuttered his optics before opening them again.**_

_**"Ratchet has uncovered some disturbing news. With the aid of the human Law Enforcement database, he acquired both the designation and residential address of the human whose blood was on Alexx's clothing" he said.**_

_**Ironhide and Jazz looked at each other and then looked back at the Prime.**_

_**"So?" Jazz asked.**_

_**Ratchet piped up at this, his vocals just as grave as Optimus' were.**_

_**"I visited the residence and the throat of the male inside had been cut so severely it is likely that he bled out in mere seconds. With the state of decomposition the cadaver was in, I would have to place a guess that he has been offline for at least three months. What's more, is I found a DNA sample that was such a close match to Alexx's DNA that she would be the prime suspect for the intentional offlining of the male" he explained.**_

_**Both Ironhide's and Jazz's faceplates fell at hearing this and they looked at each other again before Jazz turned back to Ratchet and Optimus.**_

_**"But...she don't got no memory files of what happened. Ya can' just accuse her of doin' it" he said.**_

_**Optimus looked at his first lieutenant and cycled his intakes again.**_

_**"The evidence is there Jazz, if the human government were to find out about it, or the human law enforcement were able to make a match, even I could not stop the events that would surely follow" he said.**_

_**Ironhide looked up at the Autobot Leader.**_

_**"She's your mate Optimus...she's OUR mate! You cannot just assume that she is guilty of this heinous crime. As Jazz has just pointed out and as Alexx pointed out to Ratchet when he had questioned her, she has no memory files of what happened" he said.**_

_**Optimus nodded and cycled his intakes yet again.**_

_**"Indeed this does prove to be a problem. Unfortunately we are unsure as to whether she is telling us the truth or not" he stated.**_

_**Both Jazz and Ironhide growled and Ratchet spoke again.**_

_**"Then we ask her to take part in a polygraph. Sideswipe can conduct it as he will have no reason to alter the results" he suggested.**_

_**Optimus thought about this and nodded.**_

_**"Indeed. We shall conduct this polygraph after this Halloween event" he said.**_

_**~End Flashback~**_

All the mechs had been keeping a close optic on Alexx after this was decided and it was a few weeks after the first incident that another one happened. The Shifter femme had gone out for a walk and one of the soldiers had followed her at a safe distance, watching her every move. It hadn't been long until a horse had galloped out of the gloom of the trees with a large gash on its leg, followed by a whip wielding rider. The soldier watched as Alexx spoke with the man and then something strange happened, she seemed to grow...just slightly, a few inches maybe, her hair became more spiky and her body thinner and more toned. All this happened in the space of a few seconds and the soldier watched as the jockey's face turned from one of anger to one of fear and the horse whinnied in fear too.

The soldier was horrified to see how fast Alexx was and how fast she had grabbed the other male's head and snapped his neck. When she turned around, he saw that her jawline was different, it was like she was Alexx, but she wasn't Alexx at the same time. He'd slowly backed up and headed back to base, explaining to Will, Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet what he'd seen. This new information had concerned all five and the medic had immediately retreated to do some research, while Will had told Ironhide to take him back to that clinic they had been to before. Ironhide had eagerly done as asked, as he wanted to find out what was happening to his mate just as much as Will wished to know what was happening to his daughter.

After several hours, Will had emerged from the clinic with a book in his hand and scanning the book, Ironhide had learned the title. _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ by a dead human designated Robert Louis Stevenson. With that information, the mech googled the book and learned that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were practically the same as Alexx...well it was practically the same situation. He hadn't hesitated to inform the others of this new development and when they had returned to base, Will had explained what Thomas had said. Telling them that it was something that was completely abnormal for a Shifter, but may be the result of her mating with creatures that are not necessarily of human or Shifter descent.

Several other incidents had occurred in the weeks leading up to Halloween, but thankfully no-one had been offlined this time. They had been injured sure, but none were fatally wounded.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Present)**

Alexx was in the ladies toilets applying her make up for the party and the Trick or Treat thing, her ears had been burning the past few days and she'd noticed soldiers following her and the mechs watching her closely. She had a feeling it had something to do with the blackouts she'd been having and the absence of her memory after each one. She sighed and stopped applying the thick mascara, looking into the mirror she just stared at her reflection until the lights started flickering which made her look up at them for a brief second, but when she looked back at the mirror, she got a fright. There was a woman stood next to her, looking at her...the other woman looked just like her. Alexx looked to the side, but there was no-one there, so she looked back into the mirror and even there she saw nothing.

"Must be a figment of my imagination" she muttered.

She shook her head and continued to apply her make up, before smiling to herself and storing said make up under the sinks. With that done, she straightened out her dress and looked at herself in the mirror one last time, before walking out of the room. The mechs and humans saw her come out and instantly a man who was dressed like Gomez Addams came over to her, picking up her hand and kissing from the back of the appendage to the top of her shoulder.

"You look beautiful Cara Mia" he said.

Alexx glared at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't care who you're dressed up as, do that again and you'll be sorry" she said.

She pulled her arm out of his grasp and walked over to the drinks table, getting herself some of the punch and immediately downing what she had, before filling it up again.

"You should not drink like that, it's unhealthy" a voice said.

The Shifter femme turned around to see Ratchet's holoform stood there and she raised an eyebrow.

"And what, you've dressed up as Dr. Gregory House for Halloween?" She asked.

The mech just stared at her before he cycled his intakes.

"We are...worried about you Alexx" he said.

The femme looked down and then aighed, before putting the drink down and looking up at her mate.

"I don't know what's wrong with me Ratchet, I keep having blackouts and I end up in a field or something with no memory of how I got there or what I did before. It's scary" she stated.

Ratchet nodded and pulled her in for a hug.

"We know. I wish to ask you if you will take a polygraph" he said.

Alexx looked up at hearing this, her brow furrowing.

"A polygraph? You-you think I'm lying?" She asked.

The medic shook his head as the femme pulled out of his grasp.

"No! Primus no...but I found a disturbing scene near the forest you were found in the first time you had one of these...blackouts. Your DNA was on the knife that was used to sever a man's carotid artery and his jugular vein. We simply wish to do a polygraph so that we can give it to the authorities if need be" he explained.

Alexx growled loudly and the lights in the room started flickering, Ratchet looked around and then looked back to Alexx, who had her eyes shut and her head in her hands. The look of pain that crossed her features was enough to have him concerned.

"Alexx, are you alright?" He asked.

The femme didn't answer, instead she just fell to her knees and started screaming. The music stopped, people stopped dancing and talking and joking around and looked over to her, some of them pointing and muttering in awe.

"Wow Alexx..some performance" one man said.

Ratchet scanned his mate and then hurriedly picked her up.

"It is not a performance" he said.

He practically ran to the med bay, his alt form following along with Will, Optimus, Jazz and Ironhide. Once in there, Ratchet placed Alexx on a human sized medical berth and started scanning her head. The lights flickered again and then they stopped, at the same time as Alexx stopped screaming. All eyes/optics were on her and the myriad of gasps that went around as soon as Alexx's hands came away from her face was...like a chorus of ghosts.

"Alexx?" Will ventured.

The female looked towards him, her cat-like green eyes just staring at him.

"Alexx isn't here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message, I suggest you write it down" she said.

She then stood up and the mechs and human saw first hand what the soldier had described a few weeks ago. This most certainly wasn't Alexx...but it also was Alexx. Will thought back to the story of Jekyll and Hyde and backed up, knowing this femme would hurt him if given half the chance. The femme looked over at him and laughed.

"Oh don't worry soldier boy..._mommy _would kill me if I hurt you. Metaphorically speaking of course. If she killed me, she'd have to kill herself too" she said.

She looked around and then stretched, her joints popping as she did.

"So...a party huh? Well I'm the life and soul of any party" she stated.

She went to walk out of the door but Ratchet sent a code to lock it. The femme turned around and looked at him.

"Well that wasn't nice" she said.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him as he looked down at her.

"Who are you?" He asked.

The femme shook her head.

"No, no, no. The _correct_ question is...who...are _you_?" She asked back.

Ratchet looked at Optimus, who looked at Ratchet and then knelt down to be eye level with the femme.

"Where is Alexx?" He questioned.

The femme smiled and tapped her head.

"Sleeping...in here" she replied.

Will stepped forward.

"Alexx is a Shifter...I've heard her talking to Thomas about someone named..._Thera_ is that you?" He asked.

Thera laughed and looked right at him.

"Well who's the brainy little soldier boy huh? Well done" she answered.

The mechs looked at her and then at Will, before looking back at her again.

"You are the one who offlined that male in the woods, and the male in the residence near to the forest William and Ironhide found Alexx in?" Optimus asked.

Thera grinned and Optimus took that as an affirmative. Thera laughed at his face.

"Oh come now handsome...I'm a _cat _and a wild one at that...I was _born _to kill" she said.

The mech shook his head.

"No...killing is a choice. You either choose to kill or you choose not to. You chose wrong" he stated.

Thera cackled.

"What're you gonna do, kill me? Kill little Alexx?" She asked.

Optimus stood up and thought. She was right, if he even attempted to harm her, her would undoubtedly harm Alexx too, as it was her body Thera was in. But he did not like this femme, not one bit.

"Release Alexx this instant" he demanded.

Thera pretended to think about it.

"Hmmm...nope, I don't think I will" she said.

She then turned and pulled at the human door, breaking the lock and looking back to the mechs and human.

"See ya" she said.

Sure the mechs were her mates, but why stay and chat with them when there was a party to be had?

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

**(Med Bay)**

Optimus looked at Ratchet, who looked at Will, who was staring at the door in shock.

"I have a killer daughter, who just so happens to be a sweet little Shifter angel too" he muttered.

He'd read the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde book, Jekyll had died in his forties and as a virgin too, but Thomas had said that Alexx wouldn't die...but if not kept in check...Thera would take over wholly and completely.

_**~Shifting Hearts~**_

_**A/N: Okay peeps. I apologise if this chappie seems a little rushed. Things have been hectic lately what with a huge family disagreement among other things and I just wanted to get this done and out of the way as soon as possible. Thank you for the wonderful reviews for the last chapter, I know I was taking a bit of a risk, but I'm glad it paid off and here's the aftermath. I hope you all enjoy it.**_

_**Thank you for reading and enjoy.**_

_**Vampyrex1**_

_Date Written: 24 October 2014_

_Word Count: 2840_

_Date Uploaded: Saturday 25 October 2014_

_Next Chapter Due: Saturday 01 November 2014_


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